BENGALURU: Thousands of employees in over 6,000 Gram Panchayats in Karnataka, who were working even during the Coronavirus outbreak helping Health and Revenue Department officials, have not been paid salaries for the last eight months. There are 6,081 Gram Panchayats in the state, where at least 50,000 people are employed in various positions like bill collectors, watermen, data operators and attenders.
Most of them were working even through the lockdown, reaching out to people in distress, creating awareness in villages, supplying health kits and taking up other tasks. A Panchayat Development Officer in one of the GPs in Tumakuru district said that PDOs are getting their salaries, but not the other staff. “We are yet to get funds from the government. We have not paid them since December”, he pointed out.
Earlier, the staffers were paid by Panchayats through locally generated funds. Since there were shortfalls, the State Government intervened, and in March 2018, it decided to pay the staff directly. In a letter to all Chief Executives of taluk and gram panchayats, a copy of which is available with TNIE, the Under-Secretary (Gram Panchayat) has stated that it has come to the notice of the government that gram panchayat employees have not been paid for the last eight months.
The letter also mentions that Rs 520 crore has been allocated towards salaries of the GP employees, which will be paid in four instalments. He has sought a report from the officers with details of all those employees who have not received their salaries. A senior officer in the Panchayat Raj Department said the GP staff are appointed by the local bodies.
“The GPs should pay them from their own sources of revenue. The government can support only to some extent and grants have been released every quarter. Panchayats should streamline their staff and adopt responsible systems to manage their finances. They cannot go on adding staff and expect the government to pay all salaries. They need to match their resources with their staff strength. This is an ongoing process and we are helping gram panchayats streamline their staff and resources,’’ the officer said. Another senior officer said that due to the Covid-19 outbreak, there was delay in releasing government grants to the panchayats and hence, the staff were not paid.