Bihar govt will not cut its employees' salary, pension: Sushil Modi

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday said that there will be no cut in the salary and pension of state government employees despite it receiving Rs 25,000 crore less from the Centre as its share in taxes.

The payment for salary and pension for the month of March will be timely made to the employees like last year, Modi said, adding that the process for making the payments has begun. Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio, said that states such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have decided to slash 50 to 75 per cent in the salary of their employees due to the financial crisis.

Besides, these states have also cut 10 per cent salary of their Grade IV employees, he said. Kerala has decided to deposit money into the disaster relief fund by compulsorily effecting a cut into its employees' salary, he said.

There are 3.10 lakh state government employees, besides 3.80 lakh pensioners in Bihar, the deputy chief minister said. The state government spends Rs 3,800 crore on account of their salary and pension, he added.

While Rs 330 crore is spent every month on the salary of teaching and non-teaching employees of colleges and universities, Rs 850 crore is spent on contractual and other teachers in the state every month, he said. A total of Rs 4,880 crore is spent on the salary and pension every month in the state, Modi said.