SSB stops allowances to troops for 2 months due to paucity of funds

Border guarding force SSB has put on hold payment of arrears and other allowances to its troops for January and February owing to "paucity" of funds, official sources said on Saturday. All arrears will be released to the employees in March, they said.

They said the headquarters of the paramilitary force here has alerted all its formations in the country that the funds are "hardly sufficient" to pay the regular salary of the staff for the months of January and February, therefore no other bills for the about 90,000 personnel strength force will be entertained. According to the latest order accessed by PTI, the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has informed its field units that no arrears of pay or allowances like leave encashment claims will be given for January and February due to paucity of funds.

Owing to this condition, the order issued on January 23 under the 'most immediate' category said: "no other claims except regular (salary) bills of January and February will be entertained". When contacted, officials said while the salary of the force personnel will "absolutely" be not affected for the current and the next month, all arrears will be released to the employees in March.

"This is a routine and temporary exercise done to tide off fund crunch at times. It has happened in the past as well. All arrears and other payments will be cleared by March," a senior official said. The force is primarily tasked to guard the open borders with Nepal (1,751-kms) and Bhutan (699-kms) and is deployed to conduct anti-Naxal operations in Bihar and Jharkhand. It also renders law and order duties in other parts of the country as well.

The force functions under the command of the Union Home Ministry as one of the five Central Armed Police Force (CAPF). Last year, a delay in government sanction of additional funds of Rs 800 crore for the CRPF had prompted the paramilitary force to order temporary stopping the ration money allowance (RMA) for its troops.

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