COVID-19 impact: Haryana govt bans all government recruitment for one year

The state government of Haryana imposed a ban on any new government recruitment for a year, citing budget deficit and financial crisis.

The state government of Haryana imposed a ban on any new government recruitment for a year, citing budget deficit and financial crisis. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced the decision earlier this week stating that Haryana is facing severe economic slowdown and a shortage of funds due to the outbreak of the pandemic novel coronavirus. Along with this, a ban on the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) facility of state government employees for a period of one year is also imposed. The government made this clear that it is trying to adjust to the unsolicited fund deficit by temporarily cutting down on expenses.

While the entire nation is going through a severe economic low due to the socio-economic lockdown since March 23, 2020, the Haryana government became the first in line to accept it on the public platform.

CM Manohar Lal admitted that COVID-19 related economic slowdown impacted the reserves of the state. While the state’s own ‘Corona Relief Fund’ reportedly received approximately 200 crores worth of funds, the donations are still being. In addition to this, the Dearness Allowance (DA) that the state government employees’ entitlement to receive is also withdrawn for the said period of time. The government of Haryana always remained diligent in dispatching salary, pension, and associated benefits to their employees. However, the current ban on LTC and DA entitlements justifies the economic crisis the state along with the whole nation is going through.

Funds that the government receives in the form of GST, VAT, alcohol tax, etc. are lacking already amid the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the virus. According to the reports, the government reportedly received only Rs 700 crores of Rs 2, 200 crores attributed to GST funds for the state. Furthermore, the government incurred losses amounting to Rs 3,000 crore in the month of May 2020 while only Rs 2,000 crore worth of revenue is expected to arrive out of Rs 6,500 crore for the month of April 2020. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister did not comment on whether the government will release these allowances as arrears once the ban is removed or not.

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