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Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka on Monday responded to BRS MLA Harish Rao's questions on employees' issues, saying that the employees are working in coordination with the government, further highlighting that the Congress government has cleared several debts left by the previous government.
Vikramarka noted that the government employees receive salaries on the 1st of every month, unlike during the tenure of the BRS Government, when salaries used to be credited after the 15th of every month. "The people's government is committed to the welfare of government employees. During the BRS government, salaries were paid to employees only after the 15th of every month. Since our government assumed office, salaries have been credited on the 1st of every month without delay," he said. Our government has cleared three pending Dearness Allowances (DAs) that were left unpaid by the BRS leadership, he said. Vikramarka criticised the BRS government for increasing the retirement age for allegedly escaping the burden of clearing retirement benefits. "To avoid the burden of clearing retirement benefits of employees, the previous government increased the retirement age by three years. The retirement age was raised from 58 to 61 years, and for Class IV employees, from 60 to 65 years. Due to this increase in retirement age, the burden of providing retirement benefits to 17,000 employees has now fallen on the present government. We have cleared all pending medical bills of employees," he stated. The Deputy CM underlined that the previous Government left a debt amounting to Rs 40,150 crore. The debt is being paid off by the ruling government, with Rs 700 crore being paid back every month. "When our government came to power, the previous government had left behind arrears amounting to Rs 40,150 crore. A White Paper was released in the Assembly on this issue. Out of these, Rs 4,575 crore were pending bills related to employees. After assuming office, our government has been regularly paying Rs 700 crore every month to clear pending employee dues. He further said that the Government is also planning a policy to increase the monthly payment from Rs 700 crore to Rs 1,000 crore to expedite the clearance of arrears. Vikramarka said that with a humane approach from Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and the entire Cabinet, the Government is introducing cashless medical treatment cards for employees. "During your tenure, employee unions struggled for nearly ten years demanding health cards," he said. He emphasised that in case of any unfortunate event of a government employee's accidental death, the Government is implementing an accident insurance scheme providing Rs 1.25 crore to the family. Since coming to power, our government has cleared approximately Rs. 6,146 crore related to government employees, he said. Speaking on the Pay Revision Commission, he said, "Once the Pay Revision Commission (PRC) report is received, a decision will be taken on implementing the new PRC. Currently, four Dearness Allowances (DAs) are pending, and a policy decision will be taken on them." During the previous BRS government, there were restrictions on employees. Our government is in constant dialogue with employee unions and is resolving their issues. Employees are working in coordination with the government, he stated. The Deputy CM slammed the BRS government, saying that it created financial destruction, weakened systems, and left the state in a condition where even paying salaries to employees became difficult. (ANI)
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