THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as lakhs of people are struggling to cope with the economic crisis induced by long spells of lockdown and a few of them resorting to suicide, the LDF regime in the state has decided to give government employees more and turn a blind eye to the growing demand for providing social security allowance to those who had lost their jobs.
On Wednesday, Finance Minister K N Balagopal announced Onam bonus and festival advance to 5.2 lakh state government employees who were granted a hefty pay hike only four months ago. The cash-strapped government has set apart Rs 311 crore for the purpose.
In April, weeks before the assembly elections, the government had allotted Rs 4,850 crore for implementing pay revision. It may be recalled that the state has witnessed 28 suicides owing to job loss and debt burden in the last seven weeks and there has been no word so far from the government on any assistance to struggling private sector employees and traders.
Of the 5.2 lakh government employees, around one lakh will get Rs 4,000 each as Onam bonus while the rest will get Rs 2,750 each as festival allowance. In addition, 5.3 lakh service pensioners will get Rs 1,000 each. All employees are also eligible to avail a festival advance of Rs 15,000, which should be repaid in five monthly instalments.
Kerala’s total workforce is 1.27 crore as per the estimate of the state planning board. During the first lockdown, the jobs of 73 lakh people were seriously affected, according to a study by the board. That means Rs 260 crore of the tax payers’ money is being spent for the welfare of 4% of workforce who haven’t lost a single day’s wage owing to lockdown.
“This is atrocious. The government’s indifference to what is happening around is writ large on this decision. How graceful a gesture it would have been had the government used this money to pay Rs 500 each at least to those who have lost jobs?” asked Jose Sebastian, economist and former director of Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation.
FM urges staff to donate generously to relief fund
“In fact, this magnanimity is a gesture of appreciation for the organised class of government employees who had stood with the government loyally,” he said.Though the Opposition did not protest against the decision, Balagopal urged the employees to generously contribute to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF). When the government had appealed for donation to CMDRF during the 2018 floods, a section of employees had questioned it. Only 17% of aided college teachers — one of the highly paid employees — joined the 2018 contribution drive. As in the previous years, employees on contract basis and those working in various government schemes will also be eligible for the festival allowance, said Balagopal.
About Rs 150 crore will be spent for these people, most of them falling in the low-income category. They will also be eligible for a festival advance of Rs 5,000. As per the revised budget estimates for 2020-21, the state had spent 30% of its revenue receipts for salary payment and 21% for pension payments.
As on January 1, 2021, the number of state government employees was 5,22,223 who draw salaries in the range of Rs 23,000 to Rs 1.66 lakh.
5.2 lakh is the total strength of government employees in Kerala