MUMBAI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Following the three-week lockdown and shutdown of economic activity due to COVID-19, Indian states are facing cash crunch for their regular operational expenditure as revenue coffers are running dry.
On Tuesday, India's western state of Maharashtra announced a 60-percent cut in March salaries of the chief minister and other cabinet colleagues, law makers and representatives of local governing bodies while salaries of Class I and Class II employees have been cut by 50 percent and Class III staff by 25 percent.
"The state's economy has been affected due to the coronavirus crisis and reduction of resources following the lockdown," said Ajit Pawar, deputy chief minister of the state and also in charge of the finance portfolio.
There will be no cut in the salaries of remaining classes in the state bureaucracy and the decision has been taken after a detailed deliberation with various employee unions, Pawar said, whose state's economic size is close to 450 billion U.S. dollars.
Earlier in the day, India's South Eastern state of Telangana has decided to cut salaries and pensions ranging from 10 percent to 75 percent of its employees and political representatives for the same reason.
Telangana is the twelfth-most populated state and the eighth largest state economy with a size of 140 billion U.S. dollars in the country.
As per latest media update, India has 1,251 active cases of novel coronavirus and 32 deaths have been reported so far.
