The government has increased five allowances, including funeral fees, for the public officials and employees in a latest spree of upward adjustments of their financial benefits.
The burial and cremation fees have been increased to Tk 50,000 each from Tk 30,000 each for the government officials and employees. The fees have been raised to Tk 20,000 from Tk 10,000 for a family member.
The funeral fees have been operated by the Bangladesh Karmachari Kallyan Board, an entity under the Ministry of Public Administration, since 2024.
In July 2019, the previous rates of the allowance were made effective, said an official of the board.
The board upon the approval from the Finance Division has also raised four other allowances, including treatment fees for complicated diseases, treatment fees for common diseases, joint insurance fees and monthly welfare fees.
A grant for the treatment cost of complicated diseases has been set at Tk 3 lakh, up from Tk 2 lakh and the amount of grant for common diseases has been raised to Tk 60,000 from the previous Tk 40,000.
The grant for the joint insurance fees has been increased to Tk 3 lakh from the previous Tk 2 lakh while the new monthly welfare allowance has been set at Tk 3,000, up from Tk 2,000.
Issuing a gazette notification in this connection, the Ministry of Public Administration on Wednesday asked the government employees and officials not demand more than the allocated amounts.
The latest hikes in allowances came after the government over the past one and a half months had met three demands linked to the rise in allowances and incentives enjoyed by the government officials and employees.
Allowances for trainees and trainers under the government programme were increased ranging from Tk 3,000 to Tk 3,600 from the previous rates ranging from Tk 2,000 to Tk 2,500.
The government revised up the risk allowances for field-level police personnel by maximum 20 per cent and minimum 5 per cent. The risk allowances for a constable who is yet to complete five years in service has been increased to Tk 1,800 from Tk 1,500.
Similarly, the risk allowances for nayek, assistant sub-inspector, sub-inspector, sergeant and traffic sergeant/inspector have been revised based on their job duration.
Since July, the officers and employees in the grades 10 to 20 have been receiving 15 per cent special incentive instead of previous 5 per cent with monthly salary.
The rate is 10 per cent for the grades 1 to 9.
The move is expected to cost the government about Tk 7,000 crore annually.
On July 27, the government also formed the National Pay Commission 2025 for hikes in pay for about 18 lakh public officials and employees.
According to economists, the rise in benefits and the proposed increase in pay may create imbalance in the country’s fiscal management due to a rise in expenditure against the shortfall in the revenue collection.