Staff wakes up to advance

Applications received for salary advance in cash till Monday: 7 per cent of eligible Bengal government employees

Applications received till Tuesday evening: 25 per cent

Expected rise by Wednesday (the last day for applying for the benefit): 45 per cent

Pranesh Sarkar, TT, Calcutta, Nov. 29: As the queues outside banks and ATMs lengthened on salary day, so did the list of employees seeking the Bengal government's promised cash advance to beat demonetisation.

The state government had said it would provide a cash advance of Rs 5,000 to Group C and Group D employees and Rs 2,000 to contractual staff in these categories.

Till this morning, the offer had elicited a lukewarm response. However, after the November salary was credited to the bank accounts of the employees, there was a steep rise in the number of applicants because of long queues in front of banks and ATMs to withdraw cash.

The government had initially fixed November 28 as the last date for applying for the advance, to be collected from the drawing and disbursement offices. Because of the tepid response, it extended the deadline to November 30.

Senior finance department officials said they had apprehended a cash crunch because of the demonetisation drive and the cap on withdrawals and that's why the salary advance was offered to the 3 lakh Group C and Group D staffers.

"It seems the employees had not realised the gravity of the situation. But seeing the queues at banks and ATMs after the salary was credited today, they began filling up the application forms," a finance department official said.

There are 800 drawing and disbursement offices across Bengal. The rush at these offices is not likely to be as much as that in front of banks and ATMs, given the limited number of people seeking to collect cash.

"The employees who apply for the advance can pick up the cash till December 7," an official said.

A home department employee eligible for the benefit said he stood outside one of the two ATMs at Nabanna for two hours after receiving a message that his salary had been credited.

"Till noon, neither of the ATMs had cash. I went to my bank branch at Dalhousie after waiting for two hours. There was a long queue and my boss had asked me to return by 4pm. So I left the queue and returned at 3.45pm and applied for the cash advance," he said.