Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir's financial liabilities have increased so much that the chief minister Omar Abdullah was compelled to say that the coffers of his treasuries were empty. The empty coffers have put the contractors, pensioners, retired employees and public into dire straits as they find it hard to run their daily chores.
Omar in an interview to a news channel admitted that the financial situation of the UT was dire but hoped that the Government of India will bail out his government.
"From the situation of the last 35 years, our financial situation has not been good. However, the Government of India has supported previous governments and the LG administration also,” he said.
Omar said the treasuries of the Union Territory were empty and it was very difficult for his government to pay salaries and pensions. "For development, there are not many hindrances in funding. But for paying salaries and pensions, filling the gap becomes very difficult for us when coffers are empty," he said.
The situation has become more urgent and grave for redressal as only two months are left in the ongoing financial year 2024-2025. Official sources told ETV Bharat the liabilities of the government towards contractors, pensioners and General Provident fund of retired employees are piling up due to dry treasuries.
"The government owes more than 3000 crore rupees to the contractors, 1000 crore as GP Fund and other benefits to the retired employees. In the development sector, out of more than 40 thousand crores, only 50 percent funds have been released yet by the centre. The central government must have released 90 percent of the funds till now for the Capex budget so that the pace of development work and projects could have increased," an official in the finance department told ETV Bharat.
Jammu and Kashmir Central Contractors Coordination Committee general secretary, Farooq Dar, told ETV Bharat that out of the Rs. 1.18 lakh crore budget for the financial year, approximately Rs. 22,600 crore had been allocated for developmental works, but 40% of these funds will lapse due to time constraints and sluggish, inefficiency of officers and additional charges in the engineering departments.
Faced with dire financial situation, Omar rushed to New Delhi on January 6 where he met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and sought additional financial support to the UT to clear liabilities from the last financial year (2023-2024), which have mounted to Rs 10,000- Rs 12,000 crore.
"The Prime Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister have assured us of more financial support," Omar said, hoping to get it soon to decrease his government's financial burden.
Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is targeting the Omar-led government for the "severe cash crunch" in government treasuries, and said the crisis is leaving contractors, government employees, and pensioners in dire financial straits.
"With treasuries running dry, the public is suffering. The files of pensioners about retirement benefits remain unattended in administrative offices. GP Fund cases of government employees have been piling up for months without clearance. Retirees are being denied their rightful gratuity, leave salary, and pensions. Contractors from key departments like Roads and Buildings and Jal Shakti are waiting months for payments for completed projects,” PDP's Naeem Akhtar said.
“This pervasive cash crunch points to a looming economic breakdown in Jammu and Kashmir. The government’s approach is shocking, and it is the common man who suffers,” he added.
Meanwhile, 95 pensioners of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) department of Jammu and Kashmir are facing uncertain payment delays as the Labour Commissioner department of the UT is yet to enroll these former employees with central EPFO.
Bashir Ahmad Mir, the president of EPFO Pensioners, told ETV Bharat that despite a government order issued in July 2023, the Labour and Employment Department has failed to enroll them which will delay their pensions in upcoming months.
“The JK government is paying our pension from the Pension Corps, but since November 2019, no funds were deposited in the fund corps due to centralisation of the provident fund. Once these funds are exhausted we will not get pension after two years,” Mir said, expressing his concern and urging the government to expedite their enrollment.
A senior official of the JKEPFO told ETV Bharat that the department has taken up the concern of the pensioners with the central EPFO “number of times” yet the Centre EPFO is delaying the redressal. “We are also stuck due to this delayed redressal as oftentimes family pensioners face issues,” the official said.
With the enactment and implementation of the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019 following the abrogation of Article 370 on 5 August 2019, the BJP government repealed the J&K Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1961 and applied the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (Central Act) became applicable in the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh from November 1, 2019.
With this legal strike, employees, pensioners, family pensioners and assets of the J&K Employees Provident Funds Organization were transferred to the Employees Provident Fund Organization, Ministry of Labour & Employment Government of India, along with their pension and retirement fund corpus. In addition to the pensioners, 15 employees who retired from 2022 onwards have their gratuity, leave salary and commutation still pending with the department.
The Omar Abdullah government took oath in J&K on Oct 16, 2024 after the NC won 42 of the 90 assembly seats. The UT was under the direct central control since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
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