Anantnag: Hundreds of employees of the Education Department, including teachers and some Class-IV employees, working under the New Pension Scheme (NPS) are yet to receive their salaries for the month of October, here in Anantnag district of south Kashmir. Similar reports have been pouring in from Kupwara district of north Kashmir as well.
This is not the first time their salaries have been delayed, and the employees fear that it will not be the last time either, “unless the NPS is scrapped as many other states have already done,” they said.
The teachers that Kashmir Reader talked to said that the salary issue has become a norm now. “Our salary for August was released after September 22, and this month it might get even more delayed,” the teachers told Kashmir Reader.
They said that the NPS has become a nuisance for them, as every now and then their salaries get delayed. The only explanation they get is the “budget is yet to be released”.
Under the NPS, the District Education Office needs to send a salary requisition to the civil secretariat, from where the budget is then allocated and the salaries are released.
“My sources tell me that the delay has been on part of the CEO’s office in Anantnag,” District President of the Teacher’s Forum in Anantnag, Muzaffar Ahmad, told Kashmir Reader. “Having said that, we firmly believe that the honorable LG should take a call and scrap the NPS. Many other states have done so,” he added.
Ahmad said that the teachers and other employees working under the NPS have an uncertain future not only in terms of delayed salaries but also in terms of post-retirement livelihood.
“What will they do at the age of 60? They will have no savings and no pension. It is bound to be a disaster,” Ahmad said.
The teachers, while seeking scrapping of NPS, said that the delay in their salaries was hitting them hard. “We have bills, school fees, loan installments, and other expenses to pay. They are making our life immensely difficult by not releasing our salaries in time,” they said.
The teachers are now demanding the immediate release of their salaries and, in the longer run, scrapping of the NPS. “Only then will our present and our future be secure,” they said.
Kashmir Reader talked to Chief Education Officer (CEO) Anantnag, Muhammad Khalil, who said that he was yet to receive the budget allocation from the secretariat.
“The salaries will be released as soon as the budget is allocated,” the CEO said.
The teachers meanwhile keep waiting, along with their families, as the harsh winter approaches while they are starved of money.

Suhail A Shah