Government employees in Andhra Pradesh to now retire at 62 years; new aspirants fume

Analysts say funds crunched state took the decision to delay paying retirement benefits

In less than eight years, the retirement age of Andhra Pradesh government employees is raised by four years, from 58 to now 62.

While the previous Chandrababu Naidu government had in June 2014 enhanced the superannuation age to 60 from 58 years, chief minister Jaganmohan Reddy has now added two more years to their service.

With the latest hike, Andhra Pradesh employees would be among the last to retire in the country from government service.

While Telangana government had earlier this year shifted the limit from 58 to 61 years, Madhya Pradesh reportedly has its state service employees retiring at 62.

The retirement age of central government employees is 60, while the job exit age is 58 to 60 years in many of the state governments. In Karnataka, it is at 60.

“Chief Minister Reddy considers employees' experience as an asset to the state, so the decision was taken to raise the retirement age from 60 years to 62 years to make better, continued use of their services,” AP CMO officials said. The change in superannuation age would come into effect from this January.

The decision has surprised many including the employees as it was not a major demand put forward. The various employee unions were in fact seeking a fitment of over 50 per cent in their pay revisions. But citing revenue crunch, the Reddy government has finally agreed to 23 per cent.

Analysts say that the retirement age hike decision appears to have been taken because of “the dire position of state's revenues".

“Retirement benefits outflow is a substantial amount for the exchequer. Employees get paid about Rs 25 to 30 lakh on average, including their provident funds, gratuity etc. The decision gives the AP government a breather of two years, which is till the next election time. If Reddy retains power, he has to find a way to settle the piled up accounts or else it will be his successor's problem to deal with,” L V Subrahmanyam, former chief secretary, Andhra Pradesh told DH.

While employees' leaders are expressing content, government job aspirants are the agitated lot.

“I have been hopeful of a state government job. But the YSRCP government decision kills the expectations of thousands like me, as there would be no vacancies to fill,” Syam Kumar, from Kurnool, preparing for a government job since 2017, said.

In a meeting with various employees unions on Friday, CM Reddy stated that the 23 per cent pay revision is “almost nine per cent more than the 14.29 per cent proposed by a Chief Secretary headed committee.”

“Monetary benefits would apply from April 2020 and the enhanced pay scale along with pending DAs will be effective from January 2022,” Reddy said while mentioning that the pay revision puts an additional burden of Rs 10,247 crore on the treasury. All pending arrears like PF, GLI, leave encashments would be cleared by April.

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