CHANDIGARH: The five-month-old Congress government in Punjab is facing a financial crisis. With the festival of lights around the corner, salaries of 3.5 lakh government employees might be delayed yet again.
Sources said the September salary to be released on October 1 is likely to be delayed. August’s salary was paid on September 14. The government pays Rs 2,200 crore per month in the form of salary and pension.
From October 1, government agencies will start procurement of paddy. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had agreed to give Rs 31,000 crore to the state government as cash credit limit for the procurement, but the government had to first deposit Rs 1,098 crore to avail the same. Punjab has given Rs 448 crore to the Central government, but the remaining Rs 658 crore is yet to be paid.
Its Ways and Means Advance limit of Rs 925 crore, and cannot take any more loans from the RBI.
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Also, Rs 5,000-crore worth of bills are pending in the state treasury. Medical bills of employees have not been cleared by the government. When the SAD-BJP government relinquished office in March this year, bills worth Rs 3,500 crore were pending.
An official said the state government decided to raise a loan of Rs 1,000 crore from the market, but it has not yet got permission from the Union government in this regard. Besides, its share of GST is yet to be released.