Odisha Govt Announces 15-Day Casual & Maternity Leave For Aided Educational Institutions Staff

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday announced 15 days of casual leave in a year for employees working in various non-government-aided educational institutions in Odisha.

Additionally, female block grant employees can avail paid maternity leave up to 180 days for two live births.

This move is expected to benefit approximately 33,420 employees, comprising both teaching and non-teaching staff, who are employed in 2560 new aided high schools, 940 UP schools, 39 Sanskrit Tols, and 138 madrasas throughout the state, a CMO release said.

It further stated that these benefits are also applicable for block grant employees working in higher education institutions in the state.

This apart, 16 years after receiving the block grants, the aided teachers will get placement scale at the higher pay scale.

The CM has also increased the ex-gratia amount given to the block grant employees in case of death or permanent disability during the service period. The compensation amount for in-service death has been enhanced from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh while the ex-gratia money for disability has been hiked to Rs 3.50 lakh from Rs 1.50 lakh.

This came a day after the state cabinet approved a proposal to extend one-time cessation benefit to block grant employees of colleges in the state. A lump sum amount of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 5 lakh will be provided at the time of retirement (60 years), to teaching and non-teaching staff, respectively.

The cabinet has also decided to provide a one-time retirement benefit of Rs 6 lakh for teaching staff and Rs 4 lakh for non-teaching staff of the new aided high schools and new aided Sanskrit Tols and Rs 5 lakh for teachers of new aided UP schools and new aided madrasas.

About 17,500 employees will benefit from these announcements, the release added.