The government employees in Himachal Pradesh, who backed Congress in polls due to its promise of restoring the Old Pension Scheme, are now feeling the pinch of the harsh decisions of the cash-strapped government.
The Congress government did implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for them immediately after taking over the reigns in Himachal but has been making adverse decisions therein, crying out loud against the financial crunch, which it blames on lack of support by the Central government.
Over three lakh employees are working in the government sector in Himachal. Over 1.30 lakh employees were benefitted by the OPS.
However, after that, the government suddenly decided to withdraw the Non-Practicing Allowance ( NPA) for the doctors to be recruited in future, bringing down their salaries substantially compared to other states and compared to their cadre in the state.
Surprisingly, a Specialist Doctor in Himachal Pradesh is recruited on a contract of a mere Rs 33,600 per month (excluding NPA) for two years before regularisation and this has created two salary slabs amongst government docs within the cadre.
The agitation by the Medical Officers Association in the state has not yielded any positive results so far.
In another decision, the state government recently notified that any employee going on study leave will get only 40 per cent of his salary during that period. Government officials and pensioners have also been ousted from the HIMCARE healthcare scheme in HP.
The Policemen, who travel in state corporation-run buses free of cost while on duty, will no longer enjoy that facility and will have to spend money from their pocket first and then get it reimbursed from the office.
Sources said it is the first time that the existing privileges of government jobs are being withdrawn from employees or their salaries are being lowered in the name of reforms.
"It's fine that the government has withdrawn subsidised units in power tariff from all income taxpayers, including employees..but we have never seen a government reducing the salaries or withdrawing existing benefits given for performing official duties. How much will it save by these steps?" , said some retired government officials. They said it was paradoxical that the government, which is crying for finances every day and is cutting down benefits of serving employees, had chosen to give extensions, re-employ and re-engage retired officers in routine.
Principal Media advisor to Chief Minister, Naresh Chauhan, however, said the state government was trying to bring back the economy on rails by cutting down on expenditure and mobilising resources. "These steps should have been taken earlier by the previous government, which piled up huge loans on the state," he said.
The BJP, on the other hand, criticised the Congress government for taking decisions to deprive people of existing facilities.
"The Congress came to power in HP giving ten guarantees. But they have not fulfilled their guarantees. They have only snatched benefits from people, which they got in the BJP government's tenure previously," said Leader of Opposition and former BJP Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur. He said the Congress government had failed to fulfil promises and manage funds for the state and was taking loans after loans for routine things.
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