UDF slams pay hike for PSC members and other political appointees in Kerala

UDF opposes Kerala government's salary hike for PSC members, citing financial crisis and neglect of ASHA workers.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has objected to the government’s decision to raise the salaries of Public Service Commission (PSC) members and the allowances of Kerala’s Special Representative in New Delhi, K.V. Thomas.

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said on Thursday that the government was “splurging on political appointees” while the State was in dire financial straits. “Kerala is reeling from staggering debt, plummeting tax revenue and low growth”, he said.

Mr. Satheesan said the State’s treasury was bone-dry, and the government had no funds to clear the backlog of the minimal honorarium drawn by impoverished women ASHA workers agitating indefinitely in front of the Secretariat.

Mr. Satheesan expressed solidarity with the ASHA workers and said their agitation was emblematic of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s apathy to ordinary people. “ASHA workers toil for up to 12 hours daily for a trifling monthly honorarium of ₹7000. The government is cruelly unwilling to increase the payment at least minimally so the working class women can put food on the family table”, he said. 

Mr. Satheesan said that as many as 62 lakh economically disadvantaged citizens, many of them old, ailing, and physically challenged, were waiting for the government to pay their social welfare pensions. Civic works have ground to a halt because the State has no money to compensate government contractors.

He said the government has no moral or ethical ground to justify the whopping hike for PSC members.