New Delhi: The central government Thursday accepted the recommendations of the sixth pay commission and raised the salaries of all its employees, with big hikes for the military and the paramilitary.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi. He added that more details would be announced by the prime minister during his Independence Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort Friday.

The minimum basic pay for a central government employee will be Rs.7,000 a month now, which will translate to around Rs.10,000 after adding allowances, Dasmunsi said.

The extra pay will cost the central government Rs.157 billion from its annual budget and Rs.64 billion from its railway budget this fiscal, he added.

Dasmunsi said central government employees would get 40 percent of their arrears this fiscal and 60 percent in the next fiscal (2009-10).