Assam finance and health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Saturday that the state government would not deduct any amount from the salaries of employees this month but urged every government employee to come forward and help at least three to 10 persons with ration and food items during the ongoing lockdown.
Sarma said the decision was taken despite the Sadou Asam Karmachari Parishad, the apex body of government employees, urging Dispur to deduct 10 per cent from their salaries to support its efforts to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“The state government has decided not to go for any pay cut in April as Assam’s biggest festival, Bihu, falls this month. The salaries of state government will be cleared by April 9. Since there will no reduction in salaries, we would like to request our employees to help at least three to 10 needy persons each. This will be the biggest Bihu gift they can offer during this crisis,” Sarma said.
However, he said the state government would deduct a day’s salary of the employees to augment the medical infrastructure to fight Covid-19.
Encouraging the government employees to come forward to help the vulnerable people, the minister announced, “From Sunday, we are launching the Assam Cares campaign. Government employees who will provide rations to at least three to 10 needy persons will be featured on our government websites.”
He said with the scheme, the government was aiming to reach to around 25 lakh households. There are around five lakh state government employees.
The state government also announced that it would pay an additional Rs 1,000 to the drivers and emergency medical technicians of the 108 ambulance service in the state for the next three months, in addition to their respective salaries.
The call centre operators of the Sarathi 104 helpline will also be covered under a health insurance of Rs 50 lakh, Sarma said. Doctors and nurses will be lodged at Vivanta Guwahati here during their 14-day quarantine period, after seven days of coronavirus-related duty, Sarma said. The government will foot their bill, the minister added.
