Officers cry foul over being ignored for cash advance

On Thursday, the union finance ministry announced that it would pay Rs 10,000 salary advance in cash to non-gazetted employees and even to those who do not express unwillingness would be construed as interested and paid cash advance. However, gazetted officers complained that it would affect them miserably. “You have announced cash advance to prevent non-gazetted government staff from waiting in queues. What about us? Can officers wait in long queues? Will that not affect work?” wondered a senior railway officer requesting anonymity. “I fear they had kept officers out of the cash advance under the impression that officers would be plastic money users or have cash reserves. Even if officers have cash, it will mostly be high denomination notes, which have been demonetised. How long can we swipe cards in restaurants? Do we not have to pay the milkmaid, domestic help or vegetable vendor in low cash denominations?” Argued another officer of a PSU oil major under condition of anonymity, adding that the impact would be felt more by the end of the month when people would be able to draw only Rs 2,000 from banks and ATMs when it would be time to pay all bills in the households. Significantly, even the non-gazetted employees who believe the cash advance would be a minor relief fear that it would affect normal life if the government does not increase the daily withdrawal limit.