Srinagar 9 july :With the SSA teachers claiming they are without salaries from past several months, government Thursday said the salaries up to February have been cleared. However, the government said that the release of pending salaries will take time.
“We have cleared the salaries of SSA teachers up to February. But release of their pending salaries will take time. I assure teachers that there would be no hiccups in the future as the government is putting an appropriate system in place to ensure regular flow of funds from the centre and its proper utilization as per norms which was not a case in the past,” Education Minister Nayeem Ahktar told KNS.
On Thursday a delegation of SSA teachers told KNS that despite the government’s claims that they have granted the funds for the salaries of SSA teachers, hundreds of teachers working under SSA and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RAMSA) were without salaries for last several months.
It is pertinent to mention here that on June 3 the Education Department released Rs 436 crore to reimburse the pending salaries of the teachers working under centrally sponsored schemes.
“We have received Rs 396 crore from the centre under Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan (SSA) and with the state share of Rs 40 crore, a total amount of Rs 436 crore has been made available for reimbursement of the pending salaries of teachers,” Akhtar had said.
Sources said that the government of India had withheld the funds following non-submission of the requisite utilization certificates by the previous government. (KNS)