Economic betterment of the poor may be their motto, but the staff attached to Poverty Alleviation Units under the Rural Development Department have been struggling to make both ends meet.
While units in some districts are already in dire straits due to the delay in getting Central funds, Malappuram, Kottayam, Kannur, Kozhikode, Idukki, Wayanad and Kasaragod are all set to face a severe crisis from next month.
Currently salaries have been due since September in Kollam and Pathanamthitta and the employees say it is not the first time the department has defaulted. Both gazetted and non-gazetted officers in the PAUs face the situation and many of them are now frantically trying to get a transfer to other offices.
“There is no information when our salaries for September and October will be credited and we are already into the third week of November. There is no stable pattern for crediting our salaries and of late the situation has turned more difficult,” said an employee.
While some districts are scraping through by diverting the fund from idle accounts, some others are in total distress due to this erratic pattern in clearing salaries.
Many of the employees are primary earning members of their families and the lack of funds has also disrupted the daily functioning of the units, leaving a considerable backlog of accounts to settle.
The current account balance of Pathanamthitta district is zero and the unit has not paid the office rent for the last three months.
District Poverty Alleviation Units (PAUs), earlier known as DRDA (District Rural Development Agencies), mainly focus on overseeing the implementation of anti-poverty schemes and programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development. Headed by a Project Director, the units used to receive 75% Central funding for the projects in the beginning. But it was eventually reduced to 60% and now the delay in fund release has left the staff in deep crisis.
“Our statutory payments, including PF contribution, LIC and medical insurance, are on hold. All our insurance plans are at stake and we will get no benefit if there is an emergency since we have defaulted on the last three payments. Also, we can't apply for bank loans due to the bad credit score,” said an employee.
No authority
Since their salaries are released from the DRDA administration, the Centre and State sharing a 60:40 ratio, the State government is waiting for the Centre to release the fund and District Project Directors have no authority to divert the scheme fund for disbursing the salary.
