News Brief
Nishtha Anushree
Aug 23, 2024, 02:29 PM | Updated 02:29 PM IST
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The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh (UP) government has asked its employees to declare their movable and immovable assets by 31 August on the state government's 'Manav Sampada' portal.
Failure to do so might stop the monthly salaries to be credited in their accounts and negatively affect their promotions. The order was issued in August last year with an initial deadline of 31 December 2023.
However, the deadline was extended multiple times, earlier to 30 June, then to 31 July and now to 31 August. Till now, only 26 per cent of the UP government's 17.88 lakh employees have complied with the order.
This means that over 13 lakh employees, who have yet not reported their asset details might face adverse actions as NDTV reported that the 31 August deadline is the ultimatum.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh has made it clear that only employees who submit property details by 31 August will receive their August salary. The payments for those who fail to comply will be withheld.
Minister Danish Azad Ansari has claimed that the move aims to enhance transparency and accountability within the government and is in line with Adityanath's zero-tolerance policy towards corruption.
Meanwhile, the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) has questioned the timing of the move and why the government was not able to implement the order even after multiple deadline extensions.
"Why did they not bring this in 2017? Now the Yogi Adityanath government is on the back foot, that's why they are doing this. They have realised all their employees are corrupt," SP spokesperson Ashutosh Verma said.
Nishtha Anushree is Senior Sub-editor at Swarajya. She tweets at @nishthaanushree.