Thiruvananthapuram, May 31 (IANS): Over 16,000 employees of the Kerala government are retiring on Friday.

Those retiring include a cross-section of officials ranging from doctors, police officials, teachers, clerks, drivers, peons and others working in the various state government offices, including the State Secretariat.

In Kerala, all state government employees retire at age 56.

Incidentally, all those whose date of birth falls in May and have attained age 56, retire on May 31. And this time, over 16,000 employees are retiring at the same time.

Interestingly, the only reason for the huge number retiring on a single day is the date of birth registered by their parents at the time of the school admission several decades ago.

The parents to ensure school admission mentioned the date of birth to match the month of the admission, which is June. Hence, the 16,000 retiring employees had birth dates close to June.

Last year, the number of retirees on May 31 stood at 11,800.

The practice of changing the birth dates used to be there earlier. This no longer happens now as the hospital registers each birth and records it with the local body, which issues the birth certificate.

On Friday, many of the retiring employees are given a teary-eyed farewell. But at the same time, it is also a day of joy for those in service who get the much-awaited promotions. Also, fresh vacancies will be created that give hope to those waiting for their dream government job.

But for the cash-strapped Pinarayi Vijayan government, things are not easy as they have to find an additional Rs 9,000 crore to be given as retirement benefits to the 16,000 retirees.