Minister pooh poohs report on retrenchment

Hyderabad, July 31(UNI) Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister K Rosaiah today dismissed speculation on retrenchment of employees in public sector undertakings (PSUs) as alleged by CPI(M) State Secretary B V Raghavulu.

Mr Rosaiah said there was no truth in the allegation and clarified the government had no plans to retrench the employees.

No PSU would be affected by the GO 5,he asserted.

If necessary, he would discuss the issue with Mr Raghavulu and the Chief Minister and effect changes to the GO which was issued only as part of the procedure in the preparation of the Budget.

On TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu's allegations that Chikungunya had claimed many lives, he said the doctors had clarified it was not a fatal disease.

The disease had spread to over 20 districts and the government was taking all steps to contain it.

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Kanna Lakshmi Narayana said in Guntur the government would not retrench even a single worker in the APSRTC.

In fact, the government was planning to strengthen the staff while increasing its fleet.

Mr Raghavulu had only shown the report of the monitoring body which would be examined by the Cabinet Sub-Committee before any decision was taken, he claimed.

Yesterday, the CPI (M) leader showed the media in New Delhi a purported copy of GO 5 under which, he alleged, the government was planning to retrench 65,000 employees of two large PSUs as per the directions of the World Bank.

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