Kolkata, Oct 1: On the eve of Durga Puja, the salaries of lakhs of West Bengal government employees have been stuck after the satellite link of State Bank of India failed, and all SBi ATMs stopped working. All SBI branches have been asked to remain open on Sunday to allow withdrawals.
A furious West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee spoke to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to complain about a section of bank union leaders seeking to “sabotage” salary disbursements just on the eve of Puja. Mukherjee assured her he would ensure that the satellite link is restored at the earliest.
Mamata Banerjee today alleged that a section of bank unions has hatched “conspiracy” to discredit the government by delaying salary payment of employees, and asked Finance minister to probe it.
The chief minister blamed certain nationalised banks for creating complications in making payments even after pay cheques were timely cleared by the state government through electronic clearance system.
Banerjee said she was of the view that some bank unions hatched a conspiracy to discredit the state government and said “these people never followed any work culture in last 35 years (during Left rule) and indulged only in misleading the employees”.
“I have asked my Finance minister to inquire into the entire matter”, she added.
Finance minister Amit Mitra yesterday denied allegations that pay cheques of some state government employees bounced. He said that electronic clearance statement (ECS) was successfully completed and warned certain nationalised banks that the state government would be forced to blacklist them for delaying payment deliberately.
Around 3.5 lakh state government employees receive their salary through ECS. PTI
