The State government is trying its best to pay salary arrears to government employees despite the ill effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on revenue generation, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said in the Assembly today.
Sangma was replying to a question from Mawlai MLA Process Sawkmie, who raised the matter of salary delays.
“It (the arrears) is an amount that was supposed to be cleared in three installments,” Sangma said during Question Hour. “The employees are aware of the conditions. We will do our best to ensure that the remaining part of the pending amount is cleared.”
The state employees are owed 30 per cent in arrears; one-quarter of the arrears (7.50 per cent) was paid on February 11, amounting to Rs 38 crore. The release of the remaining 22.50 per cent will be considered subject to availability of funds.
During the current financial year there has been a huge shortfall in the monthly entitlements of the state from the central government.
“This is on the account of the reduction in the collection owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. The state government is making all efforts to prudently manage the finances despite the challenging times,” he said.
Instead of receiving Rs 6,490 crore from the Centre through tax share, the actual amount received by Meghalaya was Rs 4,698 crore, which is a shortfall of Rs 1,792.
Meanwhile, instead of a budgeted Rs 2,377 crore in the state’s own tax revenue, it was only able to generate Rs 1,859 crore, which is a shortfall of Rs 518 crore.
There was also a Rs 209 crore shortfall in the state’s non-tax revenue – budgeted at Rs 690 crore, only Rs 481 crore was realised.
“So, roughly there was a Rs 2,500 crore shortfall,” Sangma said.
