Himachal employees to get pay arrears before Diwali

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HimVani

Shimla (Nov 1): Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today announced payment of arrears due on account of revised pay scales to class III and IV employees of the state before Diwali.

The Chief Minister said that Class IV employees of the state would be getting up to Rs 10,000 of their arrear due, while Class III employees would also be paid Rs 10,000 as Diwali gift. He said that the payment would entail an expenditure ranging between Rs 175 to Rs 200 crore to the state exchequer.  He said that all the departments had been directed to release payment to their employees in cash before the festival. Emphasising the important role of employees in implementation of policies and programmes of the state government, he said that the state government had maintained best cordial relations with them and given various benefits, including financial, from time to time.

Dhumal said that although the financial problems had got aggravated due to under-valuation of the committed liabilities by the 12th Finance Commission, that would not be allowed to come in the process of development and welfare of the people.  He said that the Commission had undervalued state liabilities by over Rs 1,650 crore besides allowing an annual increase of only two percent. He said that the dearness allowance of the employees and pensioners had already increased by 18 per cent. He said that besides meeting committed liabilities of salary, pension, etc, the state government had also to repay the loan borrowed and interest thereon which further amounted to liabilities worth several thousands of crores of rupees. He said that the state had released 20 per cent interim relief prior to the announcement of 5th Pay Commission recommendations while Punjab had released only 5 per cent interim relief.

Chief Minister also expressed surprise over the rejection of recommendations made by the Planning Commission of India to the Union Finance Ministry to approve a borrowing limit of 1,731 crore for the state during current financial year and fixed the limit at Rs 1,566 crore thereby further burdening the state exchequer with additional liabilities.

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