Bengaluru: The Karnataka Budget for the ensuing financial year, with elections to the Assembly (2018) and Lok Sabha (2019) round the corner, might bear a striking resemblance to that of the last year where large-scale sops were announced.  

Chief Minister Siddharamaiah, who also holds the Finance portfolio, is likely to please all sections of society, especially the State Government employees.

The CM will present the last budget of his government and it will be his 13th budget on Feb. 16 where he is expected to take a cue from populist schemes in other States and other governments like in Tamil Nadu and Delhi.

Siddharamaiah is expected to announce salary hikes for State government employees and also increase their retirement age from the present 60 years to 62 years, benefiting thousands of employees who are on the verge of retirement.

Sources from the Government Employees Association said that the pay hike and the raise in the retirement age will be implemented as the CM treats the employees as ‘Ambassadors of the Government’ and does not want to miss out on their votes.

Sources said that if not a direct announcement of pay hikes, the CM will surely announce the constitution of ‘Official Pay Committee’ to revise salaries. Sometime back, Siddharamaiah had said that the proposed Pay Committee would examine the remuneration of the employees of Union Government and of employees of other State Governments before presenting its recommendations to the State Government.

Based on its recommendations, the salaries and benefits offered to State Government employees would be revised. More than 5.90 lakh employees will benefit from this. The Committee would be asked to submit its recommendations at the earliest, he had said.