Over 16000 Employees Retiring Today in Kerala Adding to Pressure on State Exchequer

Thiruvananthapuram: Over 16,000 employees of the Kerala government are retiring on Friday adding to the financial burden on the state exchequer.

The cash-strapped Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala will have to provide Rs 9,000 crore as retirement benefits to the 16,000 retirees.

The government officials retiring on Friday are from almost all departments ranging from doctors, police officials, teachers, clerks, drivers, peons and others working in the various state government offices, including the State Secretariat.

In Kerala, the retirement age of state government employees is 56.

All those whose date of birth falls in May and have attained age 56, retire on May 31.

The reason behind over 16,000 employees having birth dates in May is quite interesting. It is because their parents at the time of the school admission several decades ago arbitrarily mentioned their date of birth to be in May as the month of admission is June. Hence, the 16,000 retiring employees had birth dates close to June.

Last year, the number of retirees on May 31 in Kerala was 11,800.

Now such arbitrary mention of birth date during school admission is not possible as the hospital registers each birth and records it with the local body, which issues the birth certificate.