Gujarat govt raises drivers’ laundry allowance after 28 years

Gandhinagar: Almost three decades later, the Gujarat govt issued a notification last week, increasing the laundry allowance of govt drivers of various departments from Rs 50 to Rs 200 per month. The last resolution fixing the laundry allowance of drivers of govt departments was issued back in 1998.In another govt resolution issued in April this year, the state general administration department (GAD) also issued a circular, changing the colour of uniforms of govt drivers from light grey shirts and steel grey trousers to light brown-coloured shirts and dark brown-coloured trousers.The resolution read, “The matter of changing the colour of the uniforms for drivers was under consideration by the govt. In place of the previously decided colour for the uniform — light grey shirts and steel grey trousers, the new colours for the uniforms for drivers of all state govt offices will be light brown/almond shirts and dark brown/walnut trousers.”The Gujarat State Employees Confederation, the umbrella body of state govt employees, meanwhile said that increasing the laundry allowance for drivers’ uniforms will have no impact on the welfare of employees as the govt 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 govt offices is increased to Rs 200 per month.” The GR said that the approval for the same has been received from the govt 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 govt, 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 govt,” he said.Chauhan said that there were two or three agencies that have contracts for drivers, peons and other helpers that work in govt 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 govt, but with the introduction of the 11-month contract system and the outsourcing system, these associations are now defunct.