The Hindu : Front Page : Early salary only an option: Isaac

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Sunday, Mar 21, 2010
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Early salary only an option: Isaac

Staff Reporter

Thrissur: Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has said that the State government employees will be given the option to draw their salary for April in March on account of Easter. Those who opt for this facility can draw the salary for April between March 22 and 24, but pay tax for the amount in the next financial year.

The Minister told reporters at Mulankunnathukavu here on Saturday that five lakh treasury bills involving payment of Rs.5,000 crore would be handled in the next 10 days. Of these 80,000 were salary bills and 2 lakh were bills related to development projects of local bodies.

‘‘Local bodies will not be allowed to draw funds in advance of implementation of projects and deposit them under other accounts. A cell has been formed by the Treasury Director to oversee and streamline disbursement and utilisation of funds for development projects,'' the Minister said. About 400 panchayats had disbursed the first instalment of funds given under the EMS housing scheme to the beneficiaries. Under the ‘Naveena Treasury 2011' scheme to modernise the Treasury Department at a cost of Rs.100 crore, buildings would be constructed for 60 new treasuries within a year and the existing facilities in treasuries would be improved within six months.

Sand prices

The Minister said sand price in the State would come down in April. The government was transparent in the distribution and auctioning of sand, he said. ‘‘The present price is Rs.2,300 per load of sand (one cubic metre). It will be brought down next month. Sand will be mined from the Malampuzha dam reservoir for Palakkad district, from Neyyar dam for Thiruvanthapuram district, from Thenmala dam for Kollam, from Lower Periyar dam for Idukki and Ernakulam and from Kuttiadi dam for Kozhikode," he said.

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