The Rural Development & Panchayat Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa has taken a serious note of the issue of the pending salaries of the Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad employees which is not being released to them for months. The Minister met a delegation of the Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad Employees Association to discuss their various issues related to the department here today. The minister directed the senior officials of the department to release the two months pending salaries of the employees within ten days.Mr. Bajwa also issued directions to the senior officers of the department to make a permanent solution for timely release of salaries of the employees of the Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads. He also ordered an enquiry into the unnecessary delay in the salaries and directed the Principal Secretary Rural Development to take stringent action against those officers who are delaying salaries of the employees without any genuine reason. He also asked the principal secretary to issue written instructions to the concerned officials at district & block level to release salaries on priority instead of other expenses.
The Panchayat Minister Mr. Bajwa assured the Employees Association to formulate and implement promotion policy of the employees of the Panchayt Samities and Zila Parishids by Baisakhi this year. He directed to frame this policy with a positive framework of mind so that this could be implemented by April 13.Disusing another demand of the association regarding giving benefit of old pension scheme to the the Panchayat Secretaries, Clerks and class four employees who were recruited till September 2, 2012, the Panchayat Minister directed the officers of the department to submit the report regarding this within 15 days.As per the suggestion forwarded by the association and a notification issued by the department the Panchayat Minister Mr. Bajwa issued directions to the allot work to the Panchyat Secretaries as per the notification, if anyone found violating the norms stringent action would be taken. Another important decision was also taken in the meeting to deploy the surplus Panchyat Secretaries at the vacant places.The Panchayat Minister also issued directions to create a system to fix the limit and priority of the expenses being incurred by the district and block level officers. In addition, he said that this system must ensure transparency in the expenditure incurred at all district & block level offices.