8th Pay Commission: How Much Money Jawans, JCOs, Officers Upto Level 9 Are Getting As Siachen Allowance Under 7th Pay Commission? Check Recap

The announcement on formation of 8th Pay Commission has created a lot of curiosity and buzz around the revisions the former might recommend for central government employees. While everything is a distant future for the moment, a recap of the allowance details recommended by 7th Pay Commission might give the much needed hint.

In a bonanza to 48 lakh central government employees, the Union Cabinet had approved recommendations of 7th Central Pay Commission with 34 modifications. The increased allowances, came into effect from July 1, 2017, based on the recommendations of the Committee on Allowances (CoA).

Here's a revisit into Major Highlights Of Cabinet Approval On 7th Pay Commission Allowances, that includes a specific Siachen Allowance for defense and Tough Location Allowance for government employees

7th CPC had placed Siachen Allowance in the RH-Max cell of the R&H Matrix with two slabs of Rs 21,000 and Rs 31,500. Recognizing the extreme nature of risk and hardship faced by officers / PBORs on continuous basis in Siachen, the Government decided to further enhance the rates of Siachen Allowance which went up from the existing rate from Rs 14,000 to Rs 30,000 per month for Jawans & JCOs (Level 8 and below) and from Rs 21,000 to Rs 42,500 per month for Officers (Level 9 and above).

With this enhancement, Siachen Allowance became more than twice the existing rates. The move was to benefit all the soldiers and officers of Indian Army who are posted in Siachen.

Some allowances based on geographical location such as Special Compensatory (Remote Locality) Allowance (SCRLA), Sunderban Allowance & Tribal Area Allowance were subsumed in Tough Location Allowance. The areas under TLA were classified into three categories and the rates will be governed as per different cells of R&H Matrix and was in the range of Rs 1000 - Rs 5300 per month. 

The 7th CPC had recommended that TLA will not be admissible with Special Duty Allowance (SDA) payable in North-East, Ladakh and the Islands. Government had decided that employees will be given the option to avail of the benefit of SCRLA at pre-revised rates along with SDA at revised rates.