The salaries for about 3.5 lakh government employees in Kerala have been delayed due to a financial crisis. The chief minister and other ministers have been accused of enjoying timely salary payments while government employees and pensioners as well have been suffering delays.
Thanks to what is being called poor management of finances and lack of competence on the part of the state government, even social-security pensions have not been disbursed for the past six months. Employees have not yet received their dearness allowance or their salary-revision arrears.
The payment delays have put over 50 lakh people to inconvenience, as along with current employees, even pensioners and their dependents are suffering. This is expected to affect spending and cause a market crisis. The rising prices are only adding to the woes of the public.
Meanwhile, the state government claims that a technical glitch is responsible for the payment delays. Once that is rectified, money will automatically go to the respective individual accounts. Those who directly receive their salaries from the treasury have received their dues, those who receive the salary in their bank account which is linked to the treasury account are unable to get their money.
There are rumours that the technical glitch has been planned with the intention of delaying payments so that funds can be conserved.
Public-sector units have been asked to deposit their profits into the treasury to help tide over the crisis.
