Patiala, July 22
In an unprecedented move, the cash-starved PSEB today decided to deduct 25 per cent of the carry home salary of Class I and Class III employees and 10 per cent of the salary of Class IV employees for July and August.
Issuing a notification in this regard, the board said the salary so cut would be credited to the General Provident Fund (GPF) accounts in January and February, 2003. It said no deduction would be made from the salaries of employees who were retiring in July and August and also in cases where the carry home salary was reduced from 40 per cent.
Sources said the board expected to tot up around Rs 10 crore through this. Though this is piffling amount compared to the
debts accumulated by the board, they said board had taken this step as it was finding it difficult to manage day-to-day affairs.
The sources said the board had been forced to buy electricity from central generating agencies in the past two to three weeks over and above its sanction from the central pool to meet the needs for paddy. They said the board was buying around Rs seven crore of power from central agencies everyday and was under intense pressure to continue providing eight to nine hours of power to the agriculture sector due to delay in rains.
Besides this, juggling of payments to various creditors, including coal companies and the railways, was also going on. The sources said the board owed around Rs 1700 crore to the railways and coal companies.
