Salary delay of 3 lakh govt employees put AAP on the back foot in Punjab 

Chandigarh: Five months old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab has now come under hammer for delaying the salaries of three lakh government employees for the month of August.

While Punjab Finance Minister, Harpal Singh Cheema, claimed that the delay was not due to the shortage of funds but it stuck in the process, the opposition spared no punches in hitting the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government for its 'inability' to run the government.

The AAP party came to power in March this year with a promise to revive the Punjab economy and make the state debt free. But the opposition alleged that the AAP government has already borrowed more than  Rs 9,000 crore as there is "no" sign of economic revival as AAP claimed.

While AAP is rubbishing opposition allegations as mere political propaganda, salary delay of employees has nonetheless put the government on the back foot.

This gave the opposition parties in Punjab including Congress and BJP another opportunity to target the Mann-led government as "inexperienced" and "incapable" to handle a big state like Punjab. 

Before winning Punjab, AAP was handling only the administrative affairs in the smaller territory of Delhi. 

As the matter regarding the delay in salary got media attention on Wednesday and a few associations also showed resentment, the Mann government was quick to credit the salary. 

But Sukhchain Singh Khaira, convener of Punjab UT Employees and Pensioners Joint Front, said that it never happened in previous governments that employees' salaries were delayed by a week as happened this time. He said in fact it was the second incident in the five-month-old AAP government. 

"Earlier we had a similar delay in May and now in August," he claimed. 

Khaira commented that it showed that the new government was unable to mop up resources even to pay salaries, leave aside all other promises that it made in the run-up to the election.

"Before elections, AAP leaders claimed that they would earn Rs 20,000 crore from excise duty. When it came to power, it only projected Rs 9,000 crore income from excise, which is just Rs 500 crore more than what the previous Congress government had projected in their budget. There is no guarantee if even this target is achieved," said Khaira. 

He also revealed that there are several issues of employees where the new government is silent. 

"We are holding a protest next week on September 14 on delay in regularisation of contractual employees, restoration of the old pension scheme, delay in payment of DA arrears and much more," Khaira said. 

Another Punjab employees federation president Vikram Dev said before coming to power, AAP used to blame previous governments for mismanagement. "What about its own mismanagement now," he added. 

Delay due to technical issues, Opposition not convinced 

In a statement, Punjab Finance Minister said that payments including salaries of Punjab Government employees were delayed as the State was gearing up for the revival of the Special Drawing Facility (SDF) as per the CSF/GRF guidelines and norms by the Reserve Bank of India. 

Cheema said that the treasury has released Rs 2719 crore including salaries and GPF besides releasing Rs 600 Crore to the electricity department as power subsidy and Rs 75 crore to Sugarfed for sugarcane dues.

While he rejected any financial crunch or crisis at State’s end, BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that instead of providing them salaries, the AAP government has taken a loan of Rs 9,000 crore which is being used on the election campaign of AAP by the party supremo Arvind  Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is quietly following his orders.

He claimed that the Delhi Model which Kejriwal had shown to the people of Punjab on eve of elections is before the people of the state to see now. 

It is shocking that even after taking a Rs 9,000 crore loan, the Bhagwant Mann government has failed to provide salaries, Sirsa said. 

"Instead, Mr Kejriwal is using state’s chopper and other facilities to promote his fake agenda in the country," he added.

He urged the people of the country to beware of Kejriwal who presents himself as the most honest and decent CM whereas, in reality, he is the most corrupt CM in the history of Independent India.
  
Congress leader Sukhpal Khaira said those propagating the Delhi model from rooftops have failed to pay salaries to employees of Punjab for the month of August. "This is your pitiable financial plight after being six months in office."

He said the AAP govt has failed on all fronts.

It recently claimed that it has eradicated the mining mafia in Punjab. It's an open secret that there’s widespread illegal mining taking place besides skyrocketing prices of sand and gravel. "The claims of Arvind Kejriwal of generating Rs 20,000 crore from mining was a sheer lie," he added.