Punjab: Delay in payment of salary irks employees, govt says no fund crunch

Punjab employee bodies on Wednesday questioned the delay in the payment of salary for the month of August, prompting the opposition parties to attack the state government, which reject suggestions of a financial crunch.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who was in Haryana's Hisar along with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, said the salary will be paid to government employees by Wednesday evening while Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said the delay was caused by a "financial exercise" undertaken to ensure welfare of the state.

"A majority of the pending payments have been made with today's release by the treasury and any other pending payments will be released within a few days," Cheema said rejecting charges of a financial crunch.

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He added, "Payments including salaries were delayed as the state was gearing up for the revival of a special drawing facility as per the norms of the Reserve Bank of India."

The AAP government claimed that there was no paucity of funds and the treasury released more than Rs 3,400 crore towards salaries and other payments. The salary of Group C and D staff has already been paid, officials said.

Meanwhile, Democratic Teachers' Front president Vikram Dev Singh said already a week of this month has passed and the government employees are yet to get their salary."With the non-payment of salary, how an employee will repay loans," he asked.

"The Aam Aadmi Party before coming to power had blamed the previous government for mismanagement. But since it is in power now, its mismanagement has come to light," he added.

Punjab Civil Secretariat Staff Association chairman Sukhchain Singh Khaira also said the employees are yet to get their salary.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties alleged that the government has money for advertisements but not for the employees.

"This government is without vision. It has money for spending on advertisements but not for paying salary to government employees," said Punjab BJP general secretary Jeevan Gupta.

He said if the state government had been making tall claims of a rise in tax revenue in the current fiscal, then why did it delay the salaries.

"If the revenue of the government has gone up, then why is it borrowing funds? If the revenue has risen, then why cannot pay salaries," asked Gupta.

Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira also hit out at the AAP government over the issue.

"Those propagating the Delhi model from rooftops have failed to pay salary to employees of Punjab for the month of August. This is your pitiable financial plight after being six months in office," said Khaira.

The salary bill of Punjab is projected to be Rs 31,171 crore by the end of the 2022-23 financial year.