Telangana government employees to get full salaries this month

Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao has decided to pay the government employees and pensioners full salary for the month of June.

Part pay deferments were in effect in the state for the last three months i.e., March, April and June because of the pandemic affected revenue loss. The Rao government has, last week, also brought in an ordinance allowing for the deferment of salaries and pensions.

While the All India Services officers like the IAS, IPS were taking 60 per cent less salary, all other gazetted and non-gazetted employees including those working in the PSUs were getting only half of their salaries.

Employees of the health, police, sanitation departments, operating in the forefront to control Covid-19, were however exempted from the slash.

“Since the state economy is getting better to some extent, the CM has decided that salaries of the state government employees and pensioners will be paid in full for this month,” a statement from the CMO on Tuesday said.

As the lockdown was lifted earlier this month, employee unions were demanding the government to restore their original salaries.

“We express our gratitude to the CM for the decision. We request that the deferred salary of three months is also paid at the earliest,” said V Mamatha, president, Telangana Gazetted Officers (TGO) association and secretary general of employees’ JAC.

Mamatha along with other JAC leaders, had on Tuesday morning, submitted a representation to excise and tourism minister Srinivas Goud to reinstate their full salaries and pensions.

Goud (who was earlier TGO president) spoke to minister K T Rama Rao who assured that he would discuss the matter with the CM, Mamatha told DH.

Pensions were also cut by half, prompting some pensioners to approach the Telangana High Court questioning the government move. The court questioned the basis for such deferments.

The government later enhanced the pensions to 75 from 50 per cent.

In a huge fallout of the Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown, Rao had at the end of March announced a deep cut in all salaries, pensions paid by the state government.

75 per cent is the cut in the salaries of the CM, all the ministers, legislators, chairpersons of state corporations and local body representatives. A government order in this regard had clarified the cut as a deferment i.e., to be paid later. However, it was not specified as when.

The reduction in the case of Grade-IV, contract outsourcing workers’ salaries, pensions – the lower rung in state employee’s formation – was 10 per cent.