Punjab financial management remains dismal, says Docsfed
Friday, 24/08/2012
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Patiala: The Doctors Federation of India (Docsfed), an organisation of retired and in-service civil medical services doctors, medical teachers, junior doctors and medical students, and the Punjab Civil Medical Service-Class I (PCMS-I) Association, has condemned the ‘dismal fiscal management’ of the Punjab government, which has led to the non-payment of the arrears of revised pay fixation of the government employees, as a result of 5th Punjab Pay Commission-2006 report which was implemented by the government in 2009, with effect from January, 2006.
Docsfed president and PCMS-I Association General Secretary Dr DC Sharma here on Thursday regretted that the trade union movement in the state has weakened and that is why the government was not worried about paying the dues to the State government employees, which should have been given in 2009. He called upon the trade unions to join hands and start a joint struggle on this issue. He accused the present Punjab government of discriminating against its own cadre employees and giving preference to Union government employees working under Punjab government. IAS, IPS and other Central government cadre employees working under Punjab government and drawing salary from the Punjab exchequer were paid all arrears of pay fixation, of the Central Pay Commission, by 2010, by the Punjab government.
Whereas in case of the State government, the Punjab government decided to split the payments to three years, 40 per cent in 2011, 30 per cent in April-May 2012 and remaining 30 per cent in April-May 2013. However, the State government has failed to release the second instalment of arrears till now, which is discrimination.
He said that citing financial crisis verbal instructions have been issued to the treasury officers not to clear such bills though most of the DDOs (drawing and disbursing officers) have submitted the bills to the treasuries quite some time ago. There cannot be two separate parameters for Central services employees working under Punjab government and the State services employees as for as the financial crisis is concerned as both of them are to be paid from the same exchequer. If there is real financial crisis the State government should ask the IAS, IPS and other Central services employees to deposit back the 60 per cent arrears already received by them by deducting from their salaries till the State government employees are also paid the same so that there is no discrimination, between the two.
The Docsfed has also urged Punjab Deputy Chief Minister not to act against the interests of the youth of the state by raising the retirement age of the government employees by two years as it would abolish whatever little chances the youth have to get government jobs.
Dr Sharma ridiculed the bad munims (accountants) for their claims of saving Rs 2,000 crore by raising the retirement age by two years. He said that the payments will be delayed only for two years and there will be no savings as the government will have to pay one and half times an amount of Rs 3,000 crore instead of Rs 2,000 crore as a result of hike in DA (dearness allowance), two more annual increments leading to higher gratuity, leave encashment.
