Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday announced a hike in the meeting fees of panchayat-level and block-level federation members of Mission Shakti programme by Rs 500.
As per the decision, the increase in the payment will be applicable retrospectively from October, 2023, an official statement said.
For block-level federations, the remuneration has been increased from Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,500 for secretaries and presidents. Other executive members, who previously received Rs 2,000, will now get Rs 2,500.
Similarly, remuneration of secretaries and presidents of panchayat-level federations has been hiked from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 while the same for other executive members has been increased to Rs 1,500 from Rs 1,000.
The state government will bear annual expenditure of Rs 249.21 crore in this regard. Around 1,26,010 such members of the Mission Shakti will be benefited with this move. It may be noted here that these federations have a special role to play in implementing the programmes of self-help groups (SHGs).
It is worth noting that there are a total of 676 block-level federation presidents and secretaries in the state, while the number of other members is 3042. There are 13,588 presidents and secretaries in Gram Panchayat Federations while the number of other members is 108,704. As such, a total of 1,26,010 employees will be benefited following the rise in their meeting fees.