"Lakhs and crores are being spent on the Bullet Train and New Delhi''s Central Vista which should have been suspended, but the government has deducted DA of Central government employees and pensioners... It is insensitive and inhuman," Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.
"The tragic part is that by deducting this amount from January 1, 2020, up to 30th June 2021 for a period of 1.5 years, the government of India proceeds to deduct almost Rs 38 thousand crores from the income of these middle-class government employees and pensioners, who rely completely on the pay and pensions that they receive," he said.
The central government on Thursday announced that it has suspended the increment in dearness allowance (DA) for its employees till July 2021. There are about 50 lakh such as serving government employees and about 62 lakh pensioners.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked the government to curtail 30 percent of its own expenses and shelve the Central Vista redevelopment and bullet train projects to save money to be used to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
"Even more tragic and objectionable is the fact that the government of India has not even spared our armed forces. The government has deducted Rs 11 thousand crores of the 15 lakh serving armed forces personnel and nearly 26 lakh military pensioners. What is their fault? They are serving the nation in times of all types of crises," said Surjewala.
“The government of India, instead of helping people by giving them financial support in this crisis, is hurting them. Instead of curtailing its own wasteful expenditures, the government is cutting the money of the middle-class people,” he told an online press conference.
Surjewala demanded that the government cut its own wasteful expenses by 30 per cent that could yield around Rs 2.5 lakh crore and take back its decision of freezing the dearness allowance and relief for employees, pensioners and defense personnel.
He also accused the government of “misconceived” priorities and policies and said on one side the prime minister is telling states and the private sector not to cut salaries of its employees and on the other, he is himself cutting the salaries of government employees.
Surjewala said the government should shelve its Central Vista project of Rs 20,000 crores, of which the Prime Minister held a meeting even yesterday, as well as the Rs 1.10 lakh crore bullet train project and not cut the money of common people.
The Congress alleged that the government did not spare the savings scheme.