Mail News Service
Ranchi, August 4: The Hemant Soren government will provide mobile phones to officers and ministers. Officers will receive phones worth Rs 60,000, along with a monthly recharge coupon of Rs 3,000, amounting to Rs 36,000 annually.
Only officers with more than four years of service remaining will receive these phones free of cost. Those with less than four years of service will need to repay the cost of the phone on retirement, based on its depreciation value over the years. The phones will remain the property of the Jharkhand government for four years, and the responsibility for data confidentiality and security will lie with the officials.
The following officials will receive a mobile phone each worth Rs 60,000 and a monthly recharge coupon of Rs 3,000: Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State, Deputy Ministers, Chief Secretary, Inspector General of Police, Commissioner and Secretary, Heads of Department, Divisional Commissioner, Regional Inspector General, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Deputy Commissioner, and Superintendent of Police.
Special Secretary level officers will receive mobile phones worth Rs 45,000 and recharge coupons of Rs 2,000 per month. Additional Secretaries, Joint Secretaries, Additional Directors, Joint Directors, and Principal Staff will receive mobile phone sets worth Rs 40,000 and Rs 1,500 per month recharge coupons. Deputy Secretaries, Deputy Directors, and Senior Principal Private Secretaries will receive a facility of Rs 35,000 and Rs 1,000 per month. Gazetted officers will receive a recharge coupon facility of Rs 30,000 and Rs 750 per month.
The government has established a repayment schedule for those who need to return the mobile within a certain period:
- 5% of the total value for returns within six to 12 months
- 75% for 12 to 18 months; 62.5% for 18 to 24 months; 50% for 24 to 30 months; 37.5% for 30 to 36 months; 25% for 36 to 42 months; 12.5% for 42 to 48 months. (w/gsd)
