Hit with bad luck in New Year! Salaries of govt employees to be delayed for days

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The salary of majority of the government employees in the state will be delayed in the New Year. This is due to the confusion that arose after the order to increase the Medisep premium to Rs 810 from December was withdrawn at the last minute. According to the new order, the increased premium will be applicable from the salary of February itself.

Salary bills were prepared in the offices with the increased Medisep share of Rs 810 as per the previous order. The bill was submitted to the treasuries a week in advance to pay the salary on time in the New Year. However, the instruction came on Tuesday evening that the old rate of Rs 500 premium should be deducted from the December salary. With this, all the bills that reached the treasuries were returned.

After cancelling all these in the offices, a new one should be prepared. With the start of preparing the bill together in all the offices, the salary distribution system, Spark, has also slowed down. Now, one has to wait for 10 to 12 hours to get the bill prepared. The salary bills of most offices could not be paid to the treasuries last evening, the last working day of December. Therefore, those who receive their salaries on the first day are likely to get their salaries on Saturday after the Mannam Jayanti holiday on Friday. Employees in other departments will also be delayed accordingly.

The first phase of the Medicep scheme expired on December 31. It has been decided to start the second phase with a premium of Rs 810 from January 1. Due to the delay in completing the technical process, the government decided to extend the first phase until January 31. The government also allocated Rs 61.14 crore as one month's share. However, the crisis was caused by the last-minute delay on it.