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Kerala govt begins disbursing salaries, pensions after protests
Finance minister KN Balagopal said the disbursal of salaries and pensions would be completed in the next two to three days
Kochi:
The Kerala government on Monday began the disbursal of salaries and pensions of government employees for the month of February following protests by worker unions against the delay of the same.
Though salaries are usually credited to the bank accounts by the first of every month, there was a delay this month which was attributed by government sources to the technical issues in the accounts of employee-treasury savings bank (e-TSB) through which the wages are routed. However, various employee unions staged demonstrations in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi and blamed the state government for financial mismanagement.
Finance minister KN Balagopal told reporters on Monday that the disbursal of salaries and pensions would be completed in the next two to three days. He also blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led union government for denying the state its rightful dues.
“We have already raised in the assembly that the state deserves to get ₹57,400 crore from the Centre as part of its dues. We have also filed a case in the Supreme Court arguing for the state to get its money. Despite the top court’s direction, no positive talks were held with the Centre. The petition will again come up for hearing soon and we are hopeful that there will be a resolution,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, leader of opposition VD Satheesan, who started a hunger strike of the opposition-backed Secretariat Action Council of government employees, said the delay in the disbursal of salaries was not surprising.
“We had predicted this situation very early on. Through two white papers, the UDF had warned that there will be an unfortunate situation where salaries and pensions would remain blocked. When we demanded that the government look for ways to increase its revenue and cut down unnecessary spending and corruption, they mocked us,” said Satheesan.
