Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Aug 2: Notwithstanding continuous flow of funds from the Government of India, the teachers working under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan keep on suffering for their salary as the State Government has yet to take a policy decision on regular financial support for their deficit pay.
Even as the Directorate of RMSA has recently released more than Rs 57 crores in two installments in favour of Chief Education Officers of the State for clearance of pending salary till June 2015 of the Masters and Headmasters under the scheme, official sources informed the Excelsior that deficit in their pay is all set to carry on as State has not released additional financial support to meet the expenditure.
The State Government annually requires more than Rs 50 crores to share the burden on account of salaries of these Masters and Headmasters under RMSA as the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development has clearly refused to release additional funds for enhanced salaries under the scheme, sources said.
The problem is persisting for the last more than one year but the State Government has so far failed to formulate a policy to ensure that the Masters and Headmasters, posted in the schools upgraded under RMSA, may get regular and up to date salaries.
Pertinent to mention that the HRD Ministry has been releasing Rs 27160 per month for a Master and Rs 29000 per month for a Headmaster under RMSA whereas the State Government is paying from Rs 40 thousand plus to around Rs 50 thousand per month on each of them. The deficit in salary is because of non-adherence of guidelines of the HRD Ministry on RMSA in J&K as the State Education Department promoted working teachers under the scheme and upgraded their pay scale instead of making fresh recruitment on contractual basis.
Even as curtailment of funds since March 2014 and consequent deficit in salary expenditure has triggered a problem in RMSA, the State Government has failed to formulate a policy for ensuring regular salary of the Masters and Headmasters under the scheme.
According to State Project Director RMSA, Ramesh Kumar, the Directorate has been regularly releasing funds as per the latest directive received from MHRD, Government of India on the basis of in position data received from Chief Education Officers. “After releasing Rs 28.42 crores in the month of June, Rs 29.07 crores were more released on July 23 @ Rs 27160 per month for a Master and Rs 29000 per month for a Headmaster to clear their salaries upto June 2015, he informed and added that there was no pendency upto June 2015.
However, on the other hand, a Chief Education Officer admitted on the condition of anonymity that it was not possible to clear the pending salary of Masters and Headmasters as the State Government has not released additional funds under Plan required to meet the deficit in salary amount.
When contacted, the Minister of State for Education, Priya Sethi held the previous regime responsible for the problem and said that the additional funds under Plan were being provided by the State Government to ensure that the Masters and Headmasters under RMSA may not face difficulty in getting their salary. The Government is well aware of the problem and after taking into consideration all aspects of the issue, a policy is being formulated in this regard very soon,” she added.
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