Shimla, Sep 3 (IANS): BJP leader and former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Tuesday said the economic crisis in the state is due to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's "khata khat" money transferring policy that is actually a lie in reality.
"Today, the state government does not have money to pay salaries for employees. Even pensioners are awaiting a pension. After the rebuke from Delhi, the Chief Minister is saying that there is no economic crisis in the state," Thakur told the media while expressing concern over the failure of the government to provide salaries to government employees this month.
The cash-strapped government, whose debt liabilities increased to Rs 76,651 crore in 2023, has been facing the worst financial crisis with no budget to pay salaries for 2.15 lakh employees and 90,000 retired employees, he said.
The Leader of Opposition said because the Congress high command "knows clearly that in the coming elections, the Congress will neither be able to play the guarantee card nor the 'khata khata' card. Both these weapons of the Congress have proved useless and suicidal, because wherever there is a Congress government the financial condition is bad. Apart from Himachal, a situation like Himachal has already come in Karnataka as well, where the alarm of financial crisis has been sounded".
He said the Congress had made big announcements during the Assembly elections and the Lok Sabha polls.
"The government grabbed power by telling lies and now forget about fulfilling poll promises. The employees who are undergoing treatment are not being refunded the reimbursements. Payment of dearness allowance and other liabilities is a far cry. What is more saddening is that the Sukhvinder Sukhu government, which is not paying salary and pension, is calling itself a well-wisher of the employees," Thakur said.
Jai Ram Thakur blamed the government for the economic crisis.
"It should stop blaming the Central government on every issue and focus on improving the fiscal condition. The Central government is supporting the state and has a rule and procedure for giving financial assistance to every state. The Centre has not made any cut in grants and allocation of funds for Himachal Pradesh," he added.
Employee leaders on Tuesday said this was the first time in the state's history that the salaries have not been paid. They blame the government for acquiring luxuries for ministers and political appointees.
However, officials believe the state is awaiting a Rs 520-crore revenue deficit grant from the Centre, which is likely to come by September 6, and that amount will be used to disburse salaries.
Financial experts blamed financial mismanagement and wasteful expenditure for the deep financial crisis.
They blame the ever-swelling wage and pension bills that are pushing the small hill state, which has been banking heavily on borrowings through market loans with an estimated debt of Rs 86,589 crore, besides committed liabilities of over Rs 10,000 crore pertaining to arrears of employees and pensioners, to the wall.
The Himachal Pradesh Employees Federation at its meeting in Shimla has declared that if the demands of the secretariat employees are ignored by the government, it will have to face the consequences.