The Bengal finance department issued an order on Wednesday asking Webel Technologies Ltd and West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation to ensure that wages of nearly 80,000 contractual employees hired by the two entities for posting in varies government departments were not cut.

The order was issued after the state had brought down the agencies’ commission to 1 per cent of the hiring cost.

The two agencies, sources said, used to charge the government monthly between eight per cent and 15 per cent of the cost of hiring the manpower, depending on the number of employees and categories of staff supplied to the departments.

The sources said the agency fee had been slashed to lessen the burden on government exchequer.

The order, government officials said, was issued to assure the large number of contractual employees, who were apprehending their salary would be slashed by the hiring agencies to recover their loss. The salary for contractual employees is paid through the respective agencies.

“The finance department had to issue the order to ensure that salary of no contractual employee is cut because the cut in the agency fee. The government wants to assure the contractual employees that their salary will not be cut,” said a finance department official.

The order, sources said, had to be issued as many of these employees would be deployed on duty for the elections to be held in Calcutta and Howrah municipal corporations. “We are trying to send a message to the state by performing well in these two most prestigious civic bodies in the state. We cannot take any risk as many of the contractual employees could be on poll duty,” said a Trinamul insider.