HP CM Sukhu ends suspense, govt staff to get salaries today, pensions on Sept 10

Shimla: Finally ending the suspense on government employees’ salaries and disbursement of pensions, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the monthly salaries of the staff will be credited to their accounts on September 5 but the pensioners will have to wait till September 10 to

get their dues.

He once again categorically denied the financial crisis in the state, terming it as part of the fiscal prudence measures to avoid undesired interest payments on loans being raised every month for payment of the wage bills and pensions, which is Rs 2000 cr per month.

Earlier in the day, the CM also replied to the debate on the issue of delayed salaries in the state assembly, which Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur had sought in the House terming it as an unprecedented situation in the state.

The employees usually get their salaries and wages on the first day of every month. Even the pensions are also disbursed to the retired employees and officers simultaneously.

Sukhu admitted that due to some systematic changes the disbursements of salaries and pensions have been diligently staggered, but clarified that the staggered payments won’t apply to employees and pensioners of boards and corporations. The situation is very different in the case of the employees of the statutory bodies.

“It has been brought to my notice that the employees have to pay EMIs against their loans at the beginning of the month. So they need salaries in their accounts on time. We will take into account the pleas of employees on the payment of EMIs on loans raised by them being paid on time,” he said.

The catch behind deferred payments, he revealed, was to save a monthly interest of Rs 3 crore. The government has been raising loans at 7.5 per cent to release the salaries. This creates an annual burden of Rs 36 crore on the government.

“The government intends to avoid this and money saved on account of interest will be diverted to welfare schemes” he assured.

Sukhu also gave a breakup of the money spent on salaries, which is Rs 1200 crore per month, while Rs 800 crore is spent on pensions per month.