VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Joint Action Committee (AP JAC) Amaravati has appealed to the coalition government to resolve the issues of state government employees within three months, warning that they will resort to agitation if their demands are not met.
The State Executive body meeting of AP JAC Amaravati, held at Revenue Bhavan in Vijayawada on Saturday, discussed at length the financial and non-financial issues affecting employees.
The JAC Chairman Bopparaju Venkateswarlu and Secretary General Palisetti Damodar sought clarity from the government on the financial and non-financial issues of employees and pensioners. They urged Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to address their concerns, emphasizing that employees are an integral part of the government and the people.
The AP JAC leaders expressed disappointment that the government had not announced the Interim Relief (IR) to employees as promised during the elections, nor had it constituted the 12th PRC or released three pending DAs. The inordinate delay in resolving these issues has caused strong discontent among employees and pensioners. Some retired employees have even passed away before receiving their retirement benefits, which is detrimental to the government’s reputation.
“Considering the concerns of employees, the Chief Minister should focus on resolving their financial issues at the earliest. If not, we will have no option but to launch agitations due to pressure from employees,” the AP JAC leaders warned.
Consider genuine demands of staff, AP JAC urges govt
They highlighted that the government has yet to release the arrears of the 11th PRC, gratuity, and leave encashment to retired employees, with each employee owing between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 25 lakh.
The AP JAC leaders urged the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister to take the initiative to address their justified demands. They requested that either the Chief Minister or a Group of Ministers deliberate on the employees’ issues and resolve them as soon as possible.
The AP JAC leaders lamented that despite discussing employee-related issues in the Joint Staff Council meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary on August 21, these issues were not mentioned in the Cabinet meeting held on the same day.