Though legislators are expected to take decisions for changing liabilities into assets but in Jammu & Kashmir legislators have themselves become the liabilities for the cash starved state government. The state which fails to disburse the monthly salaries to its teachers working in government schools under SSA scheme and delays the implementation of the seventh pay commission recommendations for the state government employees obviously for the reason of having inadequate funds at its disposal has choosen to hike the motor car advance, housing loan and travelling allowance of the legislators. The government has funds available for hiking the motor car advance, housing loan and travelling allowance of the legislators but not for implementing the decisions on the regularization of thousands of daily rated workers, home guards, contractual employees and the anganwari workers .The motor car advance for the legislators has been hiked from Rs 5 lakhs to Rs 10 lakh needlessly as even the one time, two time and three time ex legislators are availing the transportation facilities of the government with a daily 5 litre fuel facility for the vehicles allotted to them from the government owned fuel stations. Above 100% hike for the motor car advance is totally objectionable and government owes a lot of explanations from the people on this count. With the increase in house loan facilities for the legislators from Rs 5 lakhs to 10 lakhs at an interest rate of 4% the people reserve the right to ask the government why such loan facilities are not extended to the thousands of houseless families in all the three regions of the state. Ironically the rate of interest on housing loans of the government employees is over and above 12%. Even the travelling allowance of the legislators has been increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.50 lakh per year and interestingly even the family members of the legislators drawing month salary of Rs one lakh and sixty thousand are allowed to avail the travelling allowance facilities which could have been restricted to legislators only.
Cash crunch is a tool used to deny SSA teachers disbursement of monthly salaries in time and delay the much awaited implementation of the seven pay commission recommendations for the state government employees and regularization of the daily rated workers (casual labours), contractual employees and aganwari workers left to fend for themselves.
What tantamount to rubbing the salt into the injuries of the people is the government’s decisions which says that the journey undertaken and concluded in a particular financial year against which no reimbursement has been claimed by the member in that particular financial year may be paid for in the succeeding financial year(s) against unspent balances of the particular financial year to which journey pertained if savings to that extent were available against the total entitlement of Rs 1.50 lakh. These government decisions have taken in total contradiction of a finance department’s circular issued on October 25 this year according to which all government departments were directed to take austerity measures to promote fiscal discipline and a set of instructions were issued for compliance by all the Government departments and bodies funded by the Government. It seems that cash crunch is a tool used to deny SSA teachers disbursement of monthly salaries in time and delay the much awaited implementation of the seven pay commission recommendations for the state government employees and regularization of the daily rated workers (casual labours), contractual employees and aganwari workers left to fend for themselves.
