Omkar Dattatray
The employees are the back bone of a government and it functions with the active involvement and participation of the employees .The pensioners had given their sweat ,blood and measure part of their life to the government and have contributed their might to the administration .So both the employees as well as the pensioners have great hopes with the government and the government should try to satisfy the employees and pensioners .But as of today the life of the government employees and pensioners is deplorable and is a sad chapter and sad commentary on the functioning of the government viz a viz the employees and pensioners ,the plight of both these important sections of the society is untenable and unwarranted with the government paying a blind eye to the needs ,concerns and aspirations of both these sections of the society .During elections the political parties promise to provide relief to all sections of people including the salaried class ,middle income group and pensioners but it is disturbing that after assuming power all Promises of the political executive fall flat and are not fulfilled ,thus giving major jerk to the people including salaried class .lower middle income group and last but not least to the pensioners who are the senior citizens and require much attention by the rulers and the society .The prices of all most all goods and services and essential goods are soaring and skyrocketing. The rising prices that is inflation has broken the back of the common man ,government employees and the pensioners as the brunt of increasing prices is tolerated by the middle income group ,employees and the pensioners .Government employees ,pensioners and poor people are caught in the cobweb of inflation and it has become very difficult for them to come out of the mess called in economic sense inflation and in the common mans language as rising prices .There is a mechanism in place with the finance ministry and the government whereby it compensates its employees ,pensioners and family pensioners by compensating for bearing the higher cost of living and rising prices .The government usually gives relief to its employees and pensioners by announcing increased dearness allowances preferably twice a financial year .The union cabinet had approved a 3% increase in the Dearness allowance of the central government employees and pensioners from January first 2024,thus making the total D.A 50% of the basic pay and now again the central government has increased D.A of its one crore employees from July first 2024 by another 3 percent giving a big relief to its employees ,pensioners and family pensioners .There rates of D.A have also been given to its employees by various state governments and UT governments to its employees ,pensioners and family pensioners .But to great dismay the J&K UT government has not announced any increase of DA to its employees ,pensioners and family pensioners and so the two installments of dearness allowance at the rate of 3%due from first January 2024 and second installment of 3% due from first July 2024 is due but unfortunately pending troubling JK ,UT employees ,pensioners and family pensioners .So two installments of dearness allowance are outstanding by the JK,UT government .Non-announcement of dearness allowance by the Jammu and Kashmir government to its employees and pensioners has denied its due to the employees and pensioners ,thus troubling them and putting them to great inconvenience .The non-seriousness of the UT government of J&K has caught the government employees between the devil and deep sea.They are bearing the brunt of continuously rising prices of goods and services and the cost of living is increasing .But the pertinent question is why the UT government has not yet announced two installments of dearness allowance to its employees and pensioners? Thus the government employees and pensioners as well as the family pensioners are feeling suffocation ,harassment and inconvenience as all of them are suffering because the Jammu and Kashmir government has failed to announce the two pending installments of the DA to its employees and pensioners ,thus putting them to trouble for no fault of theirs .It seems that the UT government of J&K is in no mood to announce the two pending installments of dearness allowance to its employees and pensioners .In these days of soaring prices ,the employees and pensioners are finding it very hard to make both ends to meet .The Jammu and Kashmir government employees as well as its pensioners are hard pressed and they are facing financial difficulties in the face of non -announcement of the dearness allowances .It seems that even on the eve of new year the J&K government is shying away from announcing two pending DA dues to its employees ,pensioners and family pensioners so putting all of them to inconvenience .One feels that because of duel power centers in Jammu and Kashmir ,the DA has not been announced as yet ,thus troubling employees and pensioners .It sees that the LG’s administration is passing the buck on the elected government so far as the release of the pending installments of DA are concerned .It is the ill luck of the people of Jammu and Kashmir ,that there are two power centers in UT of Jammu and Kashmir and people are the sufferers. LG administration feels that release of pending DA is the prerogative of the elected government and the vice versa and the end sufferers are the people and in this case of non release of the outstanding dearness allowances the government employees ,pensioners and family pensioners .Time and now the UT government of Jammu and Kashmir through its finance department is issuing orders and circulars concerning the pensioners and family pensioners and not few months ago in the scorching heat and humid climate the UT government had ordered its pensioners and family pensioners to undergo pension verification .For undergoing the pension verification the poor pensioners and family pensioners were forced to have the rounds of visits to the Jammu and Kashmir Bank and the concerned treasury to get the pension verification done .That pension verification put the aged and old pensioners and family pensioners to unease and trouble. And few days after the pension verification ,the meek pensioners and family pensioners were again asked to give life certificates and present themselves in the JK Bank branch .Someone has rightly said that PPO is not pension payment order but it can be said to be Pensioners prisoner order .Ladakh government also had since released 3% DA to its employees and has also increased medical allowance to its pensioners to Rs 1,000.It seems that the UT government of Jammu and Kashmir is hell bent to put its employees especially its pensioners to untold sufferings .The government is twiddling its thumbs and making no efforts to decide to announce the pending DA to its employees and pensioners .The UT government ,LG Manoj Sinha and the elected chief minister and the finance minister all are requested and appealed to order the release of the two pending installments of DA to its employees and pensioners without any further delay and give some relief to them from soaring prices .But is any authority listening is the million dollar question ?.It can be opined that JK government Tas Se mas na hote hai so far as the decision to release the two pending installments of DA to its employees and pensioners is concerned .The government seems relentless so far as the order of the release of the pending DA is concerned .In short the UT government of J&K has left the employees and pensioners in lurch to fend for themselves and it has made the plight of government employees and pensioners plight deplorable.
(The author is a columnist, social, KP activist and freelancer)