Last Updated on February 3, 2021 at 6:15 pm
Newly created corporations in Jammu and Kashmir have not provided regular salaries to more than 30,000 employees for the past two months while there are talks of privatisation happening.
Sources said that more than 30,000 workers in Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (JPDCL) and Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) were not given their salaries for December and January months.
An official said that the employees who work for these organizations including the senior officials such as Executive Engineers and Chief Engineers are not being consistently provided their salaries and are facing problems.
Sources told that usually the staff is paid salary from “Grant in Aid” from the government and it is controlled on advance drawl basis at Secretariat level. Source told that this process of giving salary through Grant-in-Aid, is not that much efficient as final settlement of expenditure accounts throughout the J&K is still pending from the date of emergence of corporations. Employees are facing problems in paying their regular EMIs, tuition fees of teir children who are studying and other expenditures because of delay in regular disbursement of the salaries.
The employees are complaining that while government is claiming that once the privatisation is completed, the financial condition of the institution will improve but in this particular case, privatisation has caused problem in providing salaries to the employees.
The employees are hoping that this will be a small-time problem and things will be back on track soon. The Central government has focused on privatisation in the Union Budget 2021 including the Power Sector. The government must ensure that employees’ salaries should be paid on time. Many employees are also opposing the privatisation move of the sector as they have apprehensions that they will have to face difficulties if it happens.
