Thiruvananthapuram: Notwithstanding criticism from certain quarters, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac has reiterated government's appeal to employees for contributing one month’s salary towards Chief Ministers Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF).
Isaac said so far Rs 1,236 cr had been spent for flood relief and rehabilitation, of which Rs 800 crore was from the Disaster Response Fund and Rs 420 from Chief CMDRF. The biggest challenge is coming up. Compensation for agriculture, cattle loss and small shops is meagre as per Central guidelines. Hence the state government will have to mobilise major portion of the financial assistance.
This is the reason why the government will have to bank majorly on the CMDRF. The government is currently engaged in mobilising resources for this purpose and it is time for entire Kerala to stand united.
“I am sure that majority of employees will voluntarily take up this responsibility,” he added.
It is in this background that the government had appealed to the employees to contribute one month’s salary towards CMDRF which means three days salary each month over a period of ten months.
In order to ease the burden on the employees, the government has taken many steps. The latest being the government decision to pay the fourth instalment of Pay Revision arrears and interest in cash on October 1. Employees can avail loan from PF. If they have existing PF loans, they need not repay the amount for next ten month, may avail leave surrender for accepting the salary challenge. Only thing is that the staff should have a positive mind towards rebuilding Kearla, the finance minister said.
“We have appeal to the good conscience of the staff. They have the freedom to contribute or not. The employees who do not want to contribute would not face any kind of victimisation. Therefore anyone can decide on not contributing. However, those who are organising conventions and marches asking people not to contribute would be doing great disservice,” Isaac added.
