Shillong, May 27: The state government has decided not to defer payment of salaries to its employees for the month of May.

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma announced this while addressing media persons on Wednesday.

He informed that the central shares released by the Government of India for April and May has not gone down as much as expected.

“Therefore, since there is some stability in the central shares, we have decided not to defer the salary of government employees for May and it will be paid in June,” he said.

He however maintained that for future course of action, the state government would depend on the devolution of taxes.

Last month, the state government decided to defer the payment of a part of the salaries of cabinet ministers, bureaucrats and its employees for two months – April and May.

Sangma said that the salary deferment was a precautionary step for effective management of the state finances in view of the unprecedented situation arising due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty in the devolution of central taxes and revenue collection that there could be a decrease in central taxes.

Earlier, the budgetary estimate for monthly tax devolution was Rs 428 crore, but only Rs 352 crore in April was received.

Informing that the state’s revenue collection has drastically dropped due to the COVID-19 situation, the chief minister however said, “But we are hopeful that it will pick up in the next few months (in view of the relaxation given to some economic activities).”

The total state resources, tax and non-tax, collected in April 2019 was Rs 207.61 crore, but the revenue collected in April this year was merely Rs 76.40 crore.

According to him, investment in health infrastructure will also continue to be the top most priority of the state government.