INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kathmandu, June 23
The government has decided to provide special hazard allowance to employees and technicians working in state-owned
laboratories.
Employees working in laboratories will be entitled to an allowance not exceeding 25 per cent of their monthly
remuneration.
According to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, the Council of Ministers had recently made a decision
to this effect after employees of state-owned laboratories voiced their concern about the government move to scrap all allowances except
dearness and dress, as per its austerity measure in public expenditures.
The Ministry of Health and Population had tabled the proposal of
providing special hazard allowance to lab employees at the Cabinet meeting held on April 30.
Employees at Teku-based National Public Health
Laboratory and other state-owned laboratories had been demanding that they be provided with the hazard allowance given the nature of their
work.
A circular issued by the MoFAGA to all local levels today has requested them to follow the Cabinet decision
The MoFAGA said the hazard allowance for lab employees would be borne by the concerned office from its annual budget.
Earlier, the
government had issued Laboratory Hazards Allowance Management Guideline-2015, to protect the right and interest of government employees who
operate various scientific equipment in a lab as part of research and experimental activities and are vulnerable to hazardous chemicals or
radioactive materials and viruses.
The guideline has stipulated a provision of a seven member Hazards Allowance Fixation Committee headed by
a secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
The committee will conduct risk assessment of various labs in government
agencies and fix the allowance based on the risk level.
If the lab technicians and employees are on a leave or are deputed to other
government offices for consecutive three months, they will not be entitled to the allowance for that period as per the guideline.
Any
employee undergoing training for more than a month at a time will be eligible to enjoy the allowance of that period.
Lab technicians and
employees will have to get their health checked once a year and the expenses incurred will be borne by the government.
In case of the need
for medical treatment of staffers due to the adverse effects of chemicals and radioactive materials, while working in a lab, the government
will extend all necessary support to the concerned employees.
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