Senior NHM contract workers to get equivalent pay, says Maharashtra cabinet
Mumbai, June 30 — The Maharashtra cabinet has cleared a major bottleneck for senior contract employees of the National Health Mission (NHM). An order dated June 25, 2026 authorises the appointment of 15,010 contract staff who have completed ten or more years of service to regular posts with comparable salary structures.
The order follows a series of high‑level interventions by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar, Public Health Minister Prakash Abitkar and State Minister Meghna Sakore‑Bordikar. Their combined push resulted in a cabinet resolution that builds on a prior decision taken on March 14, 2024, to consider regularisation for long‑serving contract workers.
An amendment made on November 4, 2025, led to the creation of an inter‑departmental committee chaired by the Chief Secretary. The committee’s recommendations, together with the June 25, 2026 cabinet decision, formed the basis of the current order.
The decree specifies that any contract employee who has rendered at least ten continuous years of service—excluding technical breaks—will be placed, as a special case, in a regular position that mirrors the equivalent pay scale. Equivalence will be mapped against regular vacancies approved by the Public Health Department and the Rural Development Department, with the option to consider similar roles in other departments where justified.
In assessing equivalence, the government will weigh the nature of duties, responsibility levels, academic credentials, entry regulations, current remuneration, and the Seventh Pay Commission’s salary matrix. After the Finance Department signs off on the required funds, the relevant ministries will generate the posts and appoint eligible staff.
Appointees will receive the minimum basic salary, dearness allowance and travel allowance applicable to the regular post, while their existing salary will be retained. The order, however, expressly excludes eligibility for promotion, the Assurance of Continuity in Promotion (ACP/ASSAP) scheme, pension, or family pension. Only the NHM’s current leave provisions will remain in force.
The newly created appointments are personal and will cease automatically if the employee retires, resigns, or otherwise leaves service, with no provision for re‑appointment. Dependents will not be eligible for compassionate appointments.
Looking ahead, the government emphasised that future NHM recruitment will largely be undertaken via outsourcing or service contracts, and any new creation of regular posts will be subject to approval by the senior secretarial committee of the Finance Department.