THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ongoing agitation by a section of state government employees against the non-disbursal of arrears related to pay revision and Dearness Allowance (DA) resonated in the Assembly on Wednesday with the Opposition staging a walkout accusing the government of betraying its employees.
Congress leader PC Vishunadh who gave notice to discuss the matter through an adjournment motion, said arrears to the tune of Rs 64,923 crore have been put on hold by the government. The employees have been denied a total of 68 months' DA causing losses ranging from Rs 43,890 to 3.19 lakh on an average for each employee.
Vishnunadh added that leave surrender benefits of government employees have been put on hold for the past five years. This has caused a loss of Rs 4.55 lakh on average for each employee.
Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan said no other state government has created such huge arrears to employees and pensioners. "If the pay revision and DA arrears and the amount saved by the government by denying various other benefits are taken into account, the total would come up to Rs one lakh crore," Satheesan pointed out.
Finance Minister KN Balagopal assured that the government will not only fulfil its commitments on disbursing the pay revision and DA arrears but also go further than those assurances. He urged the Opposition not to create anxiety and confusion among employees. "While the first Pinarayi Vijayan government disbursed arrears to the tune of Rs 1.13 crore, the second government is spending Rs 1.6 lakh crore despite huge cuts in Central grants," Balagopal said.