Himachal Pradesh : Government discontinues non-practising allowance to doctors

Shimla : The Himachal Pradesh government following a cabinet decision has issued a notification to stop the non-practicing allowance (NPA) to the doctors. The notification said that along with the doctors recruited in the health, doctors working in the animal husbandry and ayurveda departments in the state will not be paid NPA in future. Earlier, doctors used to get 25% NPA of basic pay, but after the implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Punjab Pay Commission, the NPA had been reduced to 20%. The government has been paying NPA to doctors for years. Doctors’ DA as well as pension was calculated after adding NPA to the basic pay. Meanwhile, the move of the HP government to stop NPA has been opposed by the doctors who say that other states in the country are also paying NPA to the doctors and the government should reconsider the decision.