ITANAGAR, 22 Jun: The employees of the women & child development (WCD) department, under the aegis of the WCD Employees Forum, has asked the department to “migrate to treasury mode of payment from the present PFMS mode before 10 August, 2021,” adding that the forum would otherwise be forced to resort to democratic protest.
“Disbursement of other funds, such as committed liabilities, may still be continued in the PFMS mode, except salaries and honorariums of anganwadi workers and helpers,” the forum said in a representation to WCD Minister Alo Libang on Tuesday.
During a meeting with the minister, members of the forum informed that the state’s WCD department introduced the PFMS mode of disbursement of salaries, honorariums and other liabilities of the employees in November 2017. They expressed regret that “in these three years of the implementation, the employees of this department have received their salaries on time in just eight instances out of 44 instances. This has created a lot of problems for the employees under extreme distress.”
The forum said that the uncertainty in disbursement of salaries is affecting all spheres of their lives. “Almost all employees, being regular government employees, have loans with banks, EMIs, which need to be paid on time. Insurance policies, education loans, school fees and monthly recurring bills of varied nature are some other areas in which the employees are being hit hard due to irregular disbursement of salaries,” it said, adding that the “NPS/GPF contributions are also being delayed due to the present irregular system of salary disbursement.”
The forum further informed the minister that the anganwadi workers and helpers, who are also frontline workers, have also been severely affected by the irregularity in honorarium disbursement. “The so-called frontline workers in the fight against Corona pandemic have been left without honorarium since March 2021. Their honorariums too are disbursed most irregularly and with periodical delays under the present mode of payment,” it said.
The forum informed that the gram sevikas of the WCD department, who draw their salaries through the treasury mode, are getting their salaries on time, as they are not under the PFMS system.
