Covid-19 : Kerala Govt employees to give one month salary to CM Fund

Bengaluru : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday announced that the elected representatives in the State - ministers, MLAs, members of different boards and members of local self government bodies would take a 30% cut in their monthly salary and honorarium for a period of one year.

Covid-19 has had a huge impact on the economy but we are not going back on welfare schemes. Kerala has been hit badly and we are a consumer state.

The State is going through a fiscal crisis as the tax collections have fallen drastically and remittances from expatriates have also stopped since the outbreak of Covid-19.


" In this scenario, we need to mop up additional resources within the State. It’s a matter of relief that people across all sections of our society have contributed to the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF)”, said the Chief Minister.

The CM also said the government employees and their associated organisations have expressed their willingness to contribute one month’s salary to CMDRF.

The Cabinet meeting on Wednesday decided that a part of the salary of all government employees would be kept aside for this. Accordingly, the salary for six days every month would be deducted for the next five months.

This would be applicable to employees of all State-owned Enterprises, Public Sector Undertakings, Quasi-Government organisations, Universities, etc in the State. However, those earning less than Rs. 20,000 a month would be exempted, the Chief Minister said.

11 new cases & One recovery

Kerala reported 11 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday with seven from Kannur district, two in Kasargod district, and one each from Kottayam and Malappuram districts. Five of them have come back from overseas and three have got the infection through primary contact. One person is a health worker and two are house surgeons at Kozhikode Medical College who had travelled to Kerala by train.

Meanwhile, one patient from Palakkad district was cured of the disease as the rest result came negative.

Till date, 437 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Kerala and 127 patients are presently under treatment in different hospitals across the State.

The CM said Kannur district continues to have the maximum number of Coronavirus patients in the State today also. The enforcement of the lockdown with heightened checking would continue in the district.