EMPLOYEES PROTEST DELAY IN SALARY

CHANDIGARH:With the state coffers going empty, the Punjab government has delayed the release of salaries of most of its 3.5-lakh employees across the state.

The state government clears the salary bill on the first of every month, but many employees of Group A, B and C categories, who constitute a sizeable section of the workforce, are still to get paid this month. Only Group ‘D’ (Class 4) employees and daily wagers have been got their pay for January so far.

The miffed employees, particularly those belonging to the Punjab Civil Secretariat, staged a protest outside the secretariat building in Chandigarh on Wednesday against the delay. “Barring those in Group ‘D’ and some employees of Group ‘C’, others have not been paid their salaries to date. The arrears of four instalments of dearness allowance have also not been released,” said Punjab Civil Secretariat Employees’ Association general secretary Sukhchain Khehra before handing over a memorandum of demands to the finance department.

Khehra said the department officials later informed that salaries of employees working in the civil secretariat were released after the protest. On Tuesday, employees of several departments, including irrigation, industries and transport, had also held protest to demand release of their salaries and DA arrears for about two years.

The debt-ridden state government has been facing difficulty in clearing the salary bill due to shortage of funds. With over 3.5-lakh employees, the state has a monthly salary bill of ₹1,800 crore. While the delay is being attributed to non-release of compensation for goods and services tax by the Centre, there is fund crunch due to rising liabilities and the inability of the state authorities to achieve the targeted growth in revenues.