Meghalaya govt releases funds, advances of employees ahead of Christmas festivities

Shillong, Dec 20 (PTI) The Meghalaya government on Saturday said it has released funds across departments and paid one-month advance to about 80,000 employees and pensioners ahead of the Christmas festivities, an official said.

About 50,000 employees and more than 30,000 pensioners have received advance payments, while casual and contractual workers were also extended advances, the official said.

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, who holds the Finance portfolio, extended Christmas and New Year greetings to citizens.

The majority of the people in Meghalaya are Christians.

The funds released included Rs 348.1 crore for salaries, Rs 93.4 crore for pensions, Rs 9.7 crore for wages and Rs 4.1 crore for contractual workers.

The government also released an additional Rs 255.5 crore this financial year to the three autonomous district councils to help clear current and pending salaries, the officials said.

A significant component of the December disbursements went to contractor payments under work heads.

Under Major Works (Head 53), Rs 416.1 crore was released, while Minor Works (Head 27) drew Rs 154.7 crore.

The Public Works department received the highest share at Rs 256.4 crore, followed by Urban Affairs (Rs 102.5 crore), Public Health Engineering (Rs 68.6 crore), Sports and Youth Affairs (Rs 60 crore), Power (Rs 60 crore) and Health and Family Welfare (Rs 14 crore).

Major department-wise fund allocations in December stood at Rs 664.1 crore, led by Community and Rural Development (Rs 102.9 crore), Power (Rs 101.2 crore), District Council Affairs (Rs 101 crore), Planning (Rs 80.9 crore) and Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (Rs 69.5 crore).

Separately, Rs 23 crore was disbursed through DBT to 92,051 beneficiaries under the Focus+ scheme, officials said. PTI JOP RG