Gujarat: Govt cuts off NPA for doctors, recovers amount paid in last 2 months

Besides, the Government has also recovered the allowance paid to the doctors for the last two months from their salary of July. More than 100 faculty members have been affected by such a move on the part of the government.

In the 7^th pay commission, the provision of a special monthly allowance was added for medical teachers. Paid under the name of "non-practicing allowance" an allowance ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 35,000 gets paid to the medical teachers per month as they sacrifice their private practice after joining the government service.

The issue regarding the non-practicing allowance (NPA) is, however, a new one in Gujarat. Medical Dialogues had reported a few months back that almost 1700 tutors, assistant professors, associate professors and professors of six medical colleges came under the banner of the Gujarat Medical Teachers Association (GMTA) and had launched a relay hunger strike to press their demands including higher non-practicing allowance (NPA) as per the 7th Pay Commission recommendations and the abolition of contractual appointments. GMERS doctors had also participated in the protest.

As the State Government had then accepted most of the demands of the protesting teachers, the medical teachers had withdrawn their strike.

Also Read: Gujarat: Medical teachers continue stir over pay hike, CM asks to withdraw strike

The Times of India in a recent media report has mentioned that now the Gujarat Government has withdrawn the special pay allowance of the medical teachers at the six-government run medical colleges and has also recovered the amount paid in the previous two months.

Raising the issue, some of the faculty members have already made representations to the State Government. In fact, doctors under the banner of the Gujarat Medical Teachers' Association (GMTA) have also written to the State Government regarding the issue.

While commenting on this matter, Dr. Rajnish Patel, president of Gujarat Medical Teachers' Association (GMTA) told TOI, "The special pay according to the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations was introduced for about two months. Now, the government has suddenly decided not only to stop it but also roll it back with retrospective effect. We have raised this issue and asked the government to restore the salaries according to the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations."