DRDA employees not getting regular salaries, ministerITANAGAR: 

Arunachal Pradesh Rural Development Minister Tanga Byaling on Monday admitted that the employees of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) were not getting regular salaries and the state government was contemplating measures to tide over the crisis.

Responding to a Calling Attention Motion raised in the Assembly by BJP member Tamiyo Taga, Byaling clarified that the DRDA employees were not getting regular salary because of partial release of central share by the Union Ministry of Rural Development and additional financial involvement of the state government after implementation of the Central Sixth Pay Commission in the state.

"The Union Rural Development ministry is still releasing fund on the basis of pre-revised scale of pay to all the DRDAs. They have not adopted the sixth pay commission recommendation for any DRDA throughout the country but we have adopted in our state," he said.

Ninty per cent of the total fund for salary to DRDA employees were provided by the Centre while the remaining ten per cent were borne by the state government, Byaling informed and added that the state government was actually releasing 27. 12 per cent which was 17. 12 per cent more than the normal state share after implementation of the central sixth pay commission recommendations.

"As per the guideline issue by the union rural development ministry, any excess amount in DRDA administration fund is to borne by the state government," he disclosed adding in the past three years, the state government had released an amount of Rs 12.20 crore as the state's share which included additional Rs 60. 40 lakh state share against additional central share of 2011-12.

The annual requirement of fund for DRDA employees' salary amounts to Rs 2025.60 lakh and at present the union rural development minister was providing only Rs 1755.88 lakh with a deficit of Rs 269.72 lakh, the minister pointed out.