Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Jan 19: With the whopping liability of over Rs 2200 crore pending in various Treasuries of J&K, the employees and pensioners are facing lot of hardships due to non- payment of their GP Fund and Gratuity bills for the last many months while several development works have been stalled with the cash crunch in the State.
The ongoing cash crunch for the last about 10 months now, has not only affected the employees and pensioners but the contractors are also facing lot of crisis due to non-payment of their bills worth crores. They have also stopped functioning and with this the work on many ongoing projects has been stalled.
Sources in the Accounts and Treasuries department said that not only the bills of contractors from R&B, Irrigation, Flood Control, PDD, JMC, SMC, Housing Board and Local Bodies were pending for the months together, the Treasury bills of the employees and pensioners on account of GP Fund, Gratuity, pension arrears are also lying unpaid. The hapless employees and pensioners are forced to visit Treasuries again and again to receive their much needed money bills. Many employees needed this money for the marriage of their children or the construction/ repair of their houses or purchase of flats.
The sources further revealed that a total Treasury bills worth over Rs 2200 crore were pending in the State and out of this major amount of Rs 1415 crore pertained to Jammu region. Sources said worst was the condition in the Treasuries of district Jammu where liability has accumulated higher as compared to other districts. In Saddar Treasury Jammu, Gandhi Nagar and New Plots besides Talab Tillo, bills worth over Rs 230 crores were pending whereas, liability of R S Pura Treasury was nearly Rs 7 crore. The liability of New Plot Treasury of Jammu was to the tune of Rs 30 crores and the major component was the GP Fund and Gratuity of the employees and pensioners.
Sources further said that in Poonch Treasury bills worth over Rs 40 crores were pending whereas, in Rajouri the pendency was to the tune of Rs 33.06 crores. Out of this total Rs 40 crore liability in Poonch, the GP Fund bills to the tune of Rs 16 crore and Gratuity bills of Rs 8 crore of employees/ pensioners are pending for the last over 7-8 months. The contractors’ bills worth over Rs 5 crore and salary bills/ arrears of the employees worth Rs 6 crore are also still pending.
In Rajouri Treasury, out of the liability of Rs 33.06 crore, The Gratuity amount of Rs 10.21 crore and GP Fund amount worth Rs 9.42 crore is pending whereas, the contractors’ bills worth over Rs 6.40 crore are unpaid for the last about one year now. In Reasi district Treasury the bills worth over Rs 14.57 crore were pending and the GP Fund amount alone worth Rs 7.57 crore and Gratuity to the tune of Rs 3.96 crore is pending.
In Kathua Treasury, the bills worth over Rs 50 crore are pending and out of this amount, a whopping liability of worth Rs 40 crores pertains to the GP Fund, Gratuity and arrears of the State employees and pensioners.
In Udhampur alone, out of the total liability of Rs 42.77 crores, the bills of employees’ GP Fund worth Rs 17.63 crore and gratuity/ arrears of Rs 10.38 crore are pending. Similarly, the liability of Samba Treasury was to the tune of Rs 17.22 crore. The GP Fund bills worth Rs 6.50 crore and Gratuity worth Rs 4.50 crore are pending in Samba as liability towards state employees and pensioners.
In Doda Treasury, bills worth over Rs 31.77 crores and in Ramban bills worth Rs 24 crores were pending. Out of the total amount in Doda, GP Fund/Gratuity bills worth Rs 15 crore and contractors bills worth Rs 4.27 crores were pending in treasuries. In Bhaderwah Treasury, bills worth over Rs 7 crore including 60 % employees gratuity and GP Fund bills were pending whereas, in Kishtwar treasury the pendency of bills to the tune of around Rs 25 crore was accumulated for the last several months.
There is strong resentment among the employees and pensioners against the Government as their own money is not being released in their favour at the time of need. The Treasury Officers and the concerned staff have to face the wrath of the public, employees, pensioners and contractors under such circumstances.
Though several Treasury Officers and even the Director Accounts and Treasuries claimed that employees’ salary and pension were among the top priorities of the Treasuries, yet employees of some of the departments have been complaining of non-payment of their salary for few months. Cash crunch in the State has affected the pace of development works on many projects while many contractors have stalled work as mark of protest for non-payment of their pending bills for many months.
The contractors from R&B, PHE, Local Bodies/ JMC and even the firms engaged by the PDD for the repair of transformers are the worst victims. Many contractors alleged that their cheques issued by the departments have lapsed as the Treasuries have gone dry. Their bills for the last over 7-8 months have gone unpaid.
Director Accounts and Treasuries, Jammu Lochan Dass when contacted disclosed that as of now, bills worth over Rs 1412.64 crore are pending in all the Treasuries of Jammu region. Out of the total, bills worth Rs 700 crores pertained to power sector. The liability of contractors and firms has reached up to Rs 70 crore. The bills of employees and pensioners’ Gratuity to the tune of Rs 106 crores and the liability of GP Fund bills has gone to the tune of Rs 203 crores.
He further disclosed that major component was power bills which is Government to Government. After this employees’ GP Fund and Gratuity is the major component, followed by pending bills of contractors. He said as the funds are made available the pending bills are cleared on priority. The director said due to delay in receiving funds from the Centre this problem has been witnessed. He said not only in Jammu division, but similar problems is being faced by the Treasuries in Kashmir also. He said the Finance department has fixed priorities for the release of funds. He said salary and pension are the top priorities besides Medical bills especially related to kidney and cancer patients.
Director General Accounts and Treasuries (J&K) Mohammad Altaf Mirza when contacted said that cash crunch in the Treasuries was observed due to Model Code of Conduct and then Assembly elections. The State has not received the much needed funds from New Delhi. After elections, the popular Government could not be formed and this is also one of the factors. He claimed that at present bills worth over Rs 2000 crores were pending and he has taken up the issue with the concerned quarters. He said that major component was the power purchase bills. The DG claimed that he was hopeful of clearance of pending bills within a week or a fortnight.
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