6 days salary cut for next 5 months in Kerala

It would also apply to PSUs, and government-aided and quasi-aided institutions

23/04/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said the government is temporarily setting aside a part of the salary of State employees to help it tide over the COVID-19-induced financial crisis.

At a briefing on Wednesday, Mr. Vijayan said the State government would deduct the salary of employees for six days every month for the next five months. The cut also applied to public sector units, government-aided and quasi-government institutions. Ministers, legislators and members of various boards would give up 30% of their monthly salary for the next year.

Expert panel mooted

The government would constitute an expert committee to study the economic fallout of the pandemic and suggest means to come out of economic recession.

Mr. Vijayan said the pandemic had adversely impacted the global economy. The outbreak happened when the country's economic growth had slowed from 9% to 5%. It had laid low the economies of wealthy nations.

COVID-19 had hit Kerala close on the heels of the catastrophic floods in 2018 and 2019. The State's impressive 7.5% growth rate could plummet. Remittances from non-resident Keralites had already slumped, he said.

Tourism and construction had ground to a halt. Exponentially increasing unemployment had robbed people of purchasing power.

Kerala is predominantly a consumer State and had to import its food and a range of essential commodities. Ensuring food security was paramount, he added.

Mr. Vijayan unveiled a plan to restart the economy by focusing on self-sufficiency in food production. The government would not allow fallow land to languish without cultivation.

The State would adopt cage farming to grow mussels, clams, crabs, shrimps and lobsters. It would also promote fish farming in inland water, lagoons and water bodies, he said.

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