Gandhinagar: Almost three decades later, the Gujarat government issued a notification last week, increasing the laundry allowance of government drivers of various departments from Rs 50 to Rs 200 per month. The last resolution fixing the laundry allowance of drivers of government departments was issued back in 1998.
Uniform Color Change
In another government resolution issued in April this year, the state general administration department (GAD) also issued a circular, changing the color of uniforms of government drivers from light grey shirts and steel grey trousers to light brown-colored shirts and dark brown-colored trousers.
The resolution read, “The matter of changing the color of the uniforms for drivers was under consideration by the government. In place of the previously decided color for the uniform — light grey shirts and steel grey trousers, the new colors for the uniforms for drivers of all state government offices will be light brown/almond shirts and dark brown/walnut trousers.”
Employee Union Reaction
The Gujarat State Employees Confederation, the umbrella body of state government employees, meanwhile said that increasing the laundry allowance for drivers’ uniforms will have no impact on the welfare of employees as the government has, for the past six years, outsourced positions of drivers to private agencies.
A GAD GR dated May 27 said, “The current allowance of Rs 50 per month for the washing of uniforms for drivers serving in state government offices is increased to Rs 200 per month.” The GR said that the approval for the same has been received from the government through the finance department.
Pravinsinh Chauhan, vice president of the Gujarat State Employees Confederation, said that increasing the monthly laundry allowance for drivers does not make much of a difference, although the allowance has been increased after almost three decades. “Earlier, drivers were full-time employees of the government, which was changed to the 11-month contract system. For the past six or seven years, the fixed-pay 11-month contract system has also been done away with and private agencies have been granted tenders for providing drivers to the government,” he said.
Chauhan said that there were two or three agencies that have contracts for drivers, peons and other helpers that work in government departments. “Every department makes requests for drivers or peons and these are supplied by private agencies, who submit bills to the department,” he said.
The employees’ association office-bearer said that there used to be unions for drivers in the government, but with the introduction of the 11-month contract system and the outsourcing system, these associations are now defunct.
