Punjab reduces retirement age to 58 years, scraps CLU charges for next two years

Taking a major decision to improve its financial condition and provide employment to the youth, the Punjab government has decided to reduce the retirement age of government employees to 58 years. The announcement was made by state finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal while presenting a budget of ₹1.54 lakh crore in the Punjab Assembly on Friday.

Apart from this the practice of giving extension to the employees in service by the state government has also been discontinued.

The minister also announced that 6 per cent of DA arrears will be released within next week to the employees and the pay commission report will be implemented and has been accounted for in the budget.

In an effort to attract investors in Punjab, the government has also decided to scrap the Change of Land Use (CLU) charges for the next two years. Debt relief of ₹520 crores was also announced to the farm labourers in the 2020-12 budget, by Badal.

The Finance Minister claimed that there was a funding gap of over ₹10,000 crores in the budget in 2017, and ₹2,323 crores in 2019. The gap has been reduced to zero this year which has been made possible after the year 2006, Manpreet Badal added saying that the state is in primary surplus this year.