No proposal to cut salaries of central government officers, staff: Sources

“Each department has appealed and it happens all the time when a national disaster strikes,“ the official quoted above said.

But there was no plan of extending these voluntary contributions into some kind of a pay reduction at the national level, officials said.

"A salary cut is possible only when someone is penalised. Or if a financial emergency is imposed. There’s no case for either in the current scenario," another government official said.

On April 6, the Union Cabinet decided on a voluntary annual pay cut of 30 percent for the Council of Ministers, the President, Vice President & Members of Parliament.

On April 15, Vice Chairman and Members of NITI Aayog and Chairman PMEAC, contributed to PM CARES by voluntarily taking a salary cut of 30 percent for a year.

On April 17, the revenue department issued a circular saying that officers and staff would be contributing a day's salary every month till March 2021 to the PM CARES Fund to aid the government’s efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Central government departments have already contributed a day's salary in March to the PM CARES Fund. Along with the one time CSR contribution, the amount raised was in excess of Rs 3900 crore.

The annual salary bill alone for central government establishment in FY21 is estimated at Rs 2.48 lakh crore, and the annual pension bill is pegged at Rs 2.11 lakh crore.