Punjab yet to pay salary to employees, minister blames technical issue, bank holidays

Sukhchain Singh Khaira, president of Punjab government employees association confirmed that the salaries were not paid till the evening. “We have not been paid. We have been told that we will get it tomorrow,” he said.

Meanwhile, the government has raised a loan of Rs 1,500 crore to meet part of the capital expenditure under its ongoing plan and development schemes.

As per a Finance Department notification, dated April 2 and published in the Punjab Government Gazette, the loan will be raised through a yield-based auction to be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India. The bids were submitted electronically Tuesday on the RBI’s e-Kuber platform.

Up to 10 per cent of the notified amount has been reserved for non-competitive bidders, with a cap of one per cent per single bid.

The tenure of the stock will commence on April 8, 2026, and the loan will be repaid at par on April 8, 2036. Interest, based on the cut-off yield determined at the auction, will be paid half-yearly on October 8 and April 8, said the notification.

The notification added that the Centre has already accorded its consent for the borrowing as required under Article 293(3) of the Constitution. Payment by successful bidders is scheduled for April 8 before the close of banking hours.

Cheema downplayed the borrowing. “We already made it clear in the Budget 2026-27 that we will be borrowing money. This was the first instalment of the loan. It is an issue if we hide it. When it is out in the open, then why is it being made an issue?”

Presenting the Budget in the Vidhan sabha on March 9, Cheema had said that the government is estimated to borrow around Rs 39,970 crore in the 2026-27 fiscal. The Budget figures indicate that Punjab’s total debt has already reached Rs 4.07 lakh crore and is projected to rise to Rs 4.47 lakh crore in this fiscal after the government borrows the announced amount.

The rapid rise in debt has significantly increased the state’s interest liability. In the current fiscal, Punjab is expected to pay Rs 28,755 crore as interest. It will spend Rs 13,725 crore on repayment of public debt. A substantial portion of the state’s revenue will go towards servicing debt rather than funding new development projects or strengthening essential sectors such as health, education, and infrastructure. The mounting burden is also reflected in the per capita debt figure, which now stands at around Rs 1.04 lakh for every resident of the state.

This is not first time that the salaries have been delayed. It was delayed three times in the first 10 months of the Congress government led by Capt Amarinder Singh in 2017 and 2018.

Economist Kesar Singh Bhangu said that this was a case of fiscal mismanagement. “Where is the government going to fund its financial assistance scheme for women if it is borrowing Rs 1,500 crore in the first week of the new fiscal? They are already asking various housing authorities to pay the government Rs 2,500 crore. The government is not going to return this money. Last year, they had borrowed Rs 52,000 crore”.

“As per the Budget statement, the government’s total expenditure last year was Rs 2.53 lakh crore. Out of this, Rs 1.18 lakh crore (46.6 per cent) was spent from the government’s own resources. The remaining Rs 1.35 lakh crore (53.4 per cent) was from borrowings including debt and way and means advances. This government took over the state reigns when the debt was Rs 2.82 lakh crore. They will end the term with a debt of Rs 4.70 lakh crore,” said Bhangu.

He said that the previous governments also contributed to the debt “but at least they had not promised that they will make the state debt-free”. “The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had promised that and they will end up being the biggest contributors of the debt.” he added.

Bhangu further questioned the allocation for Mukh Mantri Mawan Dhian Satikar Yojana, under which Rs 1,000 per month will be given to all women except Scheduled Caste women, who will be getting Rs 1,500 per month. “They have set aside Rs 9,400 crore. Their intent is suspicious. We have 1.10 crore women above 18 years of age in the state. They (AAP) are, by their own statement, saying they will cover 97 per cent women under the scheme. I doubt their intent. They will either not pay for the entire year or they will come out with some other precondition,” he added.