Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema announces interest-free festival advance for Group D employees

Chandigarh(The Uttam Hindu): Punjab Finance Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Wednesday announced a significant benefit for Group D employees of the Punjab Government, offering an interest-free advance of Rs 10,000 each to celebrate the upcoming festival season. This initiative aims to provide financial support to nearly 35,894 employees.

Disclosing this in a press communique issued here, the Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema highlighted the Punjab Government’s commitment to its workforce. He said that during the Financial Year 2024-25, the state had 36,065 Group D employees, of whom 13,375 (approximately 37 percent) availed themselves of the same advance, which incurred an expenditure of Rs 13,37,50,000.

Finance Minister Cheema said that if all eligible Group D employees avail themselves of this advance this financial year, the total expenditure is estimated to be Rs 35.89 crore. He confirmed that an initial budget provision of Rs 20 crore has been made for this purpose for the Financial Year 2025-26. "Should additional expenditure be required to cover all applications, the necessary funds will be secured by obtaining additional allocation through the revised estimates for this financial year", said Cheema.

In view of the Diwali festival on October 20th, the Finance Minister announced that the disbursement of this amount is scheduled to be withdrawn from the treasury by October 17th. The repayment of this interest-free advance will be recovered in five equal monthly installments, with the deduction process commencing from the salary of November 2025.