Over 15,000 Himachal Government Employees Await May Salaries Amid Financial Turmoil: Report

Over 15,000 government employees in Himachal are reportedly yet to get their salaries for the month of May amid the financial turmoil in the state.

Typically, salaries are disbursed on the first day of the month in most departments, boards, and corporations of the state.

However, some outsourced employees from the Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC), Forest Corporation, Labor and Employment Department, Medical College, and Water Power Department did not receive their salaries even on 13 June i.e. today, reports Dainik Bhaskar.

This has caused distress among the employees, the report noted.

According to the report, Himachal Pradesh's treasury is running an overdraft of Rs 1,000 crore.

The state government has reportedly applied for a loan of Rs 800 crore.

However, even after the funds from this loan are credited to the account, the government's exchequer will still have an overdraft of Rs 200 crore.

This is the reason why employees from various boards, corporations, and some departments are also not receiving their salaries, the report said.

According to the report, in the HRTC alone, approximately 12,000 employees are awaiting their salaries. When combined with employees from other departments, this number exceeds 15,000.

The fiscal mess that awaits the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu led Congress government can be understood from the fact that in the current fiscal year, an old loan of around Rs 11,000 crore along with its interest has to be repaid by the state.

Further, the Central government has also reduced Himachal's borrowing limit from 5 per cent to 3.5 per cent. This means that the Himachal government will now be able to borrow only 3.5 per cent of the state's GDP instead of 5 per cent that it could have raised earlier.

As a result, the state government can only borrow around Rs 9,000 crore this year.

Additionally, the Himachal government also owes around Rs 10,000 crore to employees, pensioners, and over Rs 6,000 crore to PWD contractors, the report said.