West Bengal government increases pension for school teachers, despite 'limited financial capacity'

Despite its "limited financial capacity", the West Bengal government has increased pension of school teachers, who had retired before January 2016, a state minister said. The order will apply to the family pensioners and teachers of state government-aided schools, who were drawing pension on December 31, 2015, according to a notification.

There will be a 20 per cent rise of basic pension for the retired teachers in the age of 80 to 85 years while the increase will be by 30 per cent for those who are above 85 years of age to less than 90, the notification said. The minimum revised basic pension is fixed at Rs 8,500, it said. The order will be effective from April 1, this year.

State education minister Partha Chatterjee said the government is committed to provide retirement benefits to elderly school teachers. "No other state governments have worked for the retired teachers the way we have done, despite our limited financial capacity," he said. The announcement, however, comes ahead of the elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and 107 other civic bodies of the state, which are likely to be held in mid April.