Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
Under the National Health Mission, the central government introduced a new ‘e-SPARSH’ system for the salaries of officers and employees over the past three to four months. However, due to technical glitches, hundreds of employees in the district have not received their salaries for several months. As a result, even Diwali passed without pay for these workers. There is now growing demand to decentralize the system for employees working at the village level.
Approximately 700 employees provide health services in the district under the National Health Mission. Earlier, salaries were processed through the PFM system, which allowed local resolution of any issues. However, the central government implemented the ‘e-SPARSH’ system three months ago, centralizing salaries under the NHM. Due to ineffective implementation, many employees remain unpaid.
Key points
Hundreds of employees unpaid
Doctors, nurses, lab technicians, health workers, and ASHA volunteers working under NHM in the district are facing problems with the e-SPARSH salary system. Complaints of salary delays have been increasing since the beginning.
---What is the SPARSH system?
‘e-SPARSH’ is a centralized payroll management system. Through this platform, salaries, honoraria, attendance, service data, deductions, and bill proposals of officers and employees under the National Health Mission are processed in one place.
---Number of employees in the district
There are 700 officers and employees working under NHM in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.
---Permanent work, contractual pay
Contract employees providing health services in rural areas work alongside permanent staff. Yet, due to this system, they face delays in receiving salaries.
---Problems with bank and personal data linking
Technical issues arise while linking employees’ personal information and bank accounts to the system. Even minor errors result in salary denial.
---Loan EMIs overdue, grocery purchases on credit
Due to unpaid salaries for the past three to four months, employees’ loan installments are overdue, and many are forced to buy groceries on credit.
---Salary must be paid by the 1st of each month
According to labor law, employees must be paid by the 1st, or at the latest the 7th, of each month. However, the new system is creating significant delays.