The “pro-employee” image of the BJP-JJP government seems to have gone for a toss with at least 2,400 regular staff of the state government bracing for “lacklustre” Diwali in the absence of non-payment of their salaries for the past nearly four months.
Taking a strong exception to the non-release of the salaries, the Sarv Karamchari Sangh (SKS) has sent an SOS to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to intervene in the matter so that the employees and their families were not forced to observe “black Diwali”.
“We have apprised Khattar through a tweet to intervene in the matter to get the salaries released before Diwali so that employees and their families could also celebrate Diwali. It is ironical that while the state government is providing Diwali advance (repayable loan) to government employees, the salaries of the employees are yet to be released, for nearly four months,” he asserted.
Inquiries showed nearly 1,000 employees belonged to Haryana Tourism, about 900 supervisors of the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) of the Women and Child Development and at least 500 teachers of the Mewat model schools.
Sources said that a financial crunch on account of COVID-19 pandemic was primarily responsible for the non-payment of the salaries.
