Himachal Pradesh: Employees claim they did not recieve their salaries from the government

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], September 3 (ANI): Several government employees in Himachal Pradesh claimed on Tuesday that they have not received their salaries for the month of September.

Sanjeev Sharma, chairman of Secretariat Employees Association told ANI, “We get our salary from the first of every month every time. But I have been in service for a long time, and today is the September 3, and we haven’t got our salaries. We got to know that certain employees would be getting their salaries on September 5, and others would be getting it on September 10.”

He further said that there are provisions in the state budget about giving salaries to employees and that not getting their salaries is something to worry about as it points to a lapse on the side of the bureaucracy.

“But this is something to worry about, why has this happened? When the budget is made, there is a provision for salaries and giving Dearness Allowance. The budget must have been passed after those deliberations, so what is the problem now that we can’t get our salaries? Somewhere there has been a big lapse from the bureaucrats too”, Sharma said.

Geeta Sharma, President of Gazetted Officers Association also highlighted the problems faced by several employees due to the non-disbursement of employees’ salaries.

“If we had known from before that on 1st we won’t be getting our salaries, then we would have tried to make other arrangements regarding that, maybe someone would have borrowed, kept some money aside for rations. It is not necessary that everyone’s salary is enough, as people make a budget for themselves on the first day of every month.”, she said.

On Monday, the Opposition in the state assembly had introduced a proposal to discuss the economic condition of the state, to which the state government was prepared to respond.

However, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu noted that the opposition’s refusal to participate in the debate even after the Question Hour is indicative of their “bankruptcy.” He further added that the opposition MLAs appear to be split into two factions, causing further disruption to the proceedings.

“The opposition comes to the assembly only to fight and raise slogans,” the CM remarked.

Amidst the exchanges between the opposition and the government, the Chief Minister also brought attention to the financial strain on the state’s budget, mentioning that Himachal Pradesh has been spending around twenty-five thousand crores annually on salaries and pensions for its employees.