SHILLONG: Despite the financial crunch and temporary reduction of workforce in government offices due to COVID-19, the disbursement of salary to the staff will be as usual.
Amid the anxiety among government employees over the current crisis, an official with the finance department said they will get their salaries.
Earlier, Assam government had expressed doubts about paying June salary to the employees, but it will explore Central assistance.
Meghalaya will be able to pay salary of the employees as recently, the Centre allotted over Rs 352 crore to the government for April installment as part of assistance from the 15th Finance Commission.
The state government spends over Rs 450 crore for salary and pension of the employees.
Besides the NGT ban on coal, the prolonged curfew and lockdown due to COVID-19 has affected the revenue of the state.
An official source admitted that in addition to revenue from coal, the government had depended on excise especially on sale of liquor, but the closure of liquor outlets has hit the exchequer hard.
Though the NGT-appointed panel had allowed auction and transportation of already extracted 32 lakh metric tonnes of coal, the curbs because of COVID-19 have delayed the process.
While the government has assured release of salary, but another worry for the employees is regarding the hike in DA.
Recently, the Centre put on hold DA/DR hike for employees and pensioners.
However, the state government has not made any decision regarding the matter.
30 per cent arrear
The government could not clear 30 per cent pending arrear of the government employees last December before Christmas as per the fifth pay commission award.
There will be further delay in disbursing the amount due to financial crunch and future challenges the state will have to face post lockdown.
The 30 per cent arrear was the third and last instalment after the government in 2017 and 2018 cleared the first and the second instalment of the arrear with 40 and 30 per cent respectively.
The government will have to spend around Rs 230 crore to clear the 30 per cent arrear.
However, the commitment made by the government was that the pending arrears will be disbursed in three instalments.
Sources said that with the current financial position, the government will also continue with the earlier order directing department heads to take prior permission from the finance department before releasing funds for all expenditures.
In the past, under Meghalaya Delegation of Financial Power (DFP) Rules 2006, the heads of departments were allowed to release funds directly.
