Salary budget yet to be cleared, Punjab Government teachers at receiving end

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Bathinda, February 24

Teachers working under the state Education Department are quite perturbed as their salary for February is likely to be delayed. The reason behind the delay is said to be the budget for the month, which is yet to be cleared by the department concerned.

According to department officials, after recent salary hikes, the budget for salaries could not be cleared and it would take some more time before salaries could be released.

There are 276 secondary and high schools and 256 primary and 60 middle schools in Bathinda where more than 6,000 teachers have been providing their services.

Talking to The Tribune, a group of teachers requesting anonymity alleged that the budget of salaries for the month of February was not forwarded to the education department for clearance on time as a result their salaries are quite likely to be delayed.

Sources said the budget for salaries is forwarded for clearance after third week of every month and though it was sent on time as usual, it did not get an approval from the higher authorities at the Chandigarh head office.

While the budget for around 4,500 teachers

serving in high and secondary schools in the district is approximately Rs 34-36 crore and for 1,800 teachers in primary and middle schools is around Rs 11.60 crore.

Resham Singh Khemuana, president of the Democratic Teachers’ Front, said: “Majority of the teachers have instalments to pay back their loans which are usually paid in the first week of every month. Moreover, arrears for the period between January 2016 and July 1 last year have also not been cleared so far. If pending dues are not cleared soon, we will gherao the DEO’s office to lodge our protest soon.”

While acknowledging that the budget for salaries did not get approval, Shiv Pal Goyal, District Education Officer (DEO), Primary, said: “We have written to the Director Public Instructions (DPI) office for the clearance of the budget. The matter will be resolved soon and salaries will be released.”

Matter will be resolved soon

We’ve written to the DPI office for the budget clearance. The matter will be resolved soon and salary will be released. — Shiv Pal Goyal, DEO Primary