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VIDEO: Gratuity allocated for MPs but not for state employees
Jun 15, 201406:01 PM
The National Trade Union Centre today charged that the government has allocated funds to pay gratuity for Members of Parliament while completely disregarding public servants, who have dedicated decades of their lives to serve the country.
According to the government estimates, the state had allocated Rs 18,450 million for the payment of pension gratuity in the year 2013 while Rs 15,000 million was allocated for this year, NTCU Steering Committee member Mahinda Jayasinghe said.
“However, not a single cent of this allocated money has been provided to pay the gratuity,” he told reporters in Colombo.
He stated that according to data released by the Department of Treasury Operations, pension gratuity has been allocated for Parliamentarians but not for state employees.
Gratuity for Parliamentarians has been allocated for 4 months so far this year (from January to April) by the Rajapaksa government, but the column showing gratuity allocations for state employees in those months is empty, he said, pointing to a document during the press conference.
The estimates claim that Rs 15,000 million has been allocated but the statistics of the Operations Department, which actually handles allocations, show that “not 5 cents” has been allocated for pensioners, he said.
Referring to the Operations Department’s statistics for last year, Jayasinghe pointed out that the government has allocated gratuity for Parliamentarians for all 12 months while for the state employees, who have dedicated 30-35 years to serve the country, allocations have only been made for 7 months.
Now the government, like it has woken from a deep slumber, says that gratuity will be paid to retiring public servants according to the existing methodology, he said, in reference to President Rajapaksa’s instructions to the Treasury Secretary yesterday.
However, he said, that those funds have not been allocated to the Treasury’s Operations Department. “So how can we believe them?”
