Telangana: KCR announces salary hike for over 9 lakh govt employees, raises retirement age

Hyderabad, Dec 29: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday decided to increase the salaries of all government employees, raise their age of superannuation and to makerecruitments in all government departments as a new year gift to them.

The salary hike would benefit government employees and different types of employees, including Grant-in Aid employees, daily wage employees, Home Guards, Anganwadi workers, contract employees, outsourcing staff, ASHAs, those receiving honorariums and pensioners, he said.

All categories of employees put together would be 9,36,976 and the salary hike would be extended to all these employees, he said, according to an official release.

Rao also announced that besides the salary hike, increasing the age of retirement, effecting promotions and transfers, formulation of simplified service rules, providing all benefits on the day of retirement to the employees and all other employee-related matters would be resolved by the end of February. Rao said recruitment would be taken up from February after identifying all the vacant posts in the government.

He appointed a three-member committee, headed by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, to study all the issues concerned and to hold discussions with the employees' unions, the release said.

The committee would study the PRC (pay revision commission) report in the first week of January and hold a meeting with the employees' unions in the second week, it said.

The committee will advise the government on salary revision to be made, increasing retirement age, preparing service rules and other issues, it said. Later, the state cabinet would meet and take final decisions on the issues concerned, it added. The employees' unions hailed the decision of Rao to hike salaries and to increase retirement age. The leaders of some unions met the Chief Minister and thanked him.

Meanwhile, state BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar alleged that Rao is trying to "cheat" the employees with announcements. How can the Chief Secretary-led committee complete the work in two months whereas the PRC could not do so in two months, he claimed in a statement. The attempt is to please the employees in view of MLC elections in February, he alleged.