Bhubaneswar: Following a hue and cry over the government’s decision to put a complete ban on creation of new posts, the finance department Wednesday clarified that recruitment of existing vacant positions will continue.
The process for filling up of vacant posts will continue as usual. This apart, all ongoing recruitment processes of the government will go on, sources in the department said. The restriction is only on the creation of new posts, it said.
The finance department order asked departments not to renew contract of employees engaged for temporary period.
“In case of retired government employees of different grades, as they are in receipt of pension, there shall be no payment of remuneration if they have not worked during the lockdown,” it said.
Further, departments were asked to not make any fresh engagement without due procedure after the lockdown is lifted.
The state government has taken the austerity measures as the revenue collection has came down over past three months and will continue to fall till the return of normalcy, an official said.
The state government is implementing various reforms as suggested by the Centre to increase its borrowing limits for meeting expenditures. While allowing the states to borrow up to 5 per cent of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) instead of the existing 3 per cent, the Centre has laid certain conditions. The relaxation is only for the 2020-21 fiscal.
The Finance department has pegged state’s GSDP at Rs 5.96 lakh crore for the year 2020-21 while the government is estimated to borrow Rs 17,878 crore, which is 3 per cent of the GSDP, in its annual budget in the same corresponding period.