Chandigarh, October 4 2021
Haryana Government has decided to revise the DC rates of various districts in Haryana. The DC rates are wages of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers which are fixed by district level committee headed by the Deputy Commissioners. The State Government has reviewed the matter and decided to fix DC rates on board principles of minimum wages and district specific consumer prices. The General Administration Department (GAD) under Haryana Chief Secretary will fix the DC rates for all categories and districts. This will lead to rationalization of these rates and will benefit the employees.
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While giving information in this regard an official spokesperson said that the initial purpose of the DC rate was to have a readily available labour rate which can be used in times of emergency like engaging labour for flood control works etc. when it would not be feasible to go for tenders due to time constraints. Over the period of time DC rates came to be recognized as standard rate of engagement of adhoc/temporary labour/staff even in non-emergency times, he said.
The methodology includes various factors like rental housing values, vegetable prices, school fee rates, etc. He said that the Districts have been classified into three categories i.e. Category A including Gurugram, Faridabad, Panchkula and Sonipat, Category B including Panipat, Jhajjar, Palwal, Karnal, Ambala, Hisar, Rohtak, Rewari, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Yamunanagar, Bhiwani and Jind and Category C including Mahendargarh, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Nuh and Charkhi Dadri.
He said that the wages would be applied Group wise viz. Group B (Skilled), Group C – I (Semi-skilled Non-Technical), Group C – II (Semi-skilled II – Technical) and Group D (Unskilled). Annual increment of 5 percent would be allowed to keep pace with inflation, he added.
He said that the issue of rationalization of the DC Rates has been concerning the State Government for some time. He said that the fixation of such DC rates is district specific and primarily based on prevalent minimum wages and district specific labour rates. There is considerable wage difference across the districts. On account of difference in the rates of the rural labour and urban labour rates, and DC rates increase being not proportional to the increase in the minimum wages being either too high or too low. The updating of the DC rate based on parameters like inflation etc. is also not institutionalized.