Himachal govt staring at crisis?: 15,000 govt employees await delayed monthly salary

New Delhi: Within months of coming to power, Congress government in Himachal Pradesh seems to be dealing with financial crunch. At least 15,000 government employees are awaiting their monthly salary, which earlier was credited into their account by first week of the month.

According to a Hindi portal, thousands of govt employees from State Transport Department, Medical colleges, Water management, Forest department have admitted on record that they were not paid monthly remuneration till June 13, which they used to get in their bank accounts, on Day 1 of the month.

The delay in salary is causing anxiety for the govt workers as there are reports of government staring at a financial crunch, apparently because of raining freebies promised during elections. Notably, Congress rode to power in Himachal Pradesh this year, riding on promises of freebies & guarantees and formed government under Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

Reports suggest that state government’s treasury is facing an overdraft of Rs 1,000 crore and it has also applied for Rs 800 crore loan. Even after receiving this loan, the government will have overdraft of Rs 200 crore.

The financial crunch is apparently the reason behind delay in payment of salaries to thousands of government employees. The employees of Himachal Road Transport are among the worst affected due to this ‘financial crisis’. Out of 15,000 employees, about 12K staff reportedly belong to HRTC.

How big is financial crisis?

Sukhu government, floundering on economic front, within 6 months of getting elected to power is surely not a good omen for future. It may be noted that the state govt is already saddled with previous loan of Rs 11,000 crore and its incurring interest.

To make matters worse, the Centre has cut down Himachal’s loan limit from 5% to 3.5% which means that state govt would be able to borrow only upto 3.5% loan of its GDP.