Srinagar: In order to settle the General Provident Fund (GPF) claims by pensioners and employees, the Finance department will release Rs 500 cr within few days, news reports said here Friday.
Reports also said that the government has also issued specific directions to the GST and Industries and Commerce departments to promptly clear pending GST reimbursement cases and release of turnover incentives to the industrial units.
Reports added that the Chief Secretary issued the directions for settlement of GPF claims at earliest after the issue was deliberated in the meeting of the Finance department.
Reports further said that Santosh D Vaidya, Principal Secretary to the Government, Finance department, apprised the Chief Secretary that Rs 500 crore are to be provided shortly for the settlement of GPF claims and will be released to the treasuries across the Union Territory within few days.
Notably, pensioners in J&K were suffering hardships due to inordinate delay in the payment of GPF as well as retirement gratuity which they say had plunged them into severe financial crises.
Even the serving employees of the government are facing immense difficulties due to non-release of their partial GPF to meet exigencies like marriages and higher education of their children apart from treatment for different ailments.
Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary has directed the GST department to ensure that pending cases of GST reimbursement are cleared at the earliest.
Likewise, the Industries and Commerce department has been directed to ensure release of pending turnover incentive to the industrial units which was raised by industrial unions continuously.
The unit holders in their petitions had claimed that inordinate delay in clearance of claims of turnover incentives for the financial year 2021-22 had hit them hard financially.
