Thousands of primary school teachers under the Maharashtra Education Department are still awaiting their March salaries, which are typically credited by April 1. The delay — now nearing a month — comes in the wake of a major recruitment and financial scam within the department, which led to the arrest of Ulhas Narad, Deputy Director of Education, Nagpur Division. The department is now planning to verify individual teacher accounts before releasing April salaries, potentially delaying payments for about 4,000 teachers.
According to a media report, a primary school teacher, requesting anonymity, shared the difficulties faced due to the delay. “My entire monthly budget has been disrupted. I have to pay EMIs for my vehicle and house, along with other regular expenses. The absence of my salary has severely affected my financial planning and home budget,” she said.
Assistant Director of Education, Nagpur Division, Dipendra Lokhande, explained that after Narad’s arrest, there was no authorised official to sign salary slips and complete the disbursement procedures. “However, on Monday, Gautam Gedam, Superintendent of the Rural Salary Team (Secondary School), was given additional charge of handling primary school staff salaries. The process will now move faster, and the teachers should receive their pending payments soon,” Lokhande said.
Gautam Gedam, who took additional charge on Monday, informed that around 397 primary schools and between 3,800 to 4,000 teachers have been impacted by the salary delay. “Investigations into illegal staff recruitments are ongoing in the Pune division, and cyber crime officials are also probing the case,” Gedam said. He further added that once the verification process is completed, salaries for both March and April will be disbursed. “We are aiming to complete the process within a week,” he said.
Primary school teachers on full pay typically earn between ₹45,000 and ₹50,000 per month. The extended delay has caused severe inconvenience, forcing many to struggle with monthly obligations like EMIs, household expenses, and other financial commitments.
Scam in issuance of Shalarth IDs
The scam involved issuing a web-based unique teacher identification number (Shalarth ID) to an ineligible individual, allowing him to draw government salaries, receive five years’ worth of pay arrears, and even secure a promotion to headmaster.. Following the exposure, multiple Shalarth IDs entered into the government’s personnel database, used for processing payments and grants, are now under thorough scrutiny.
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