VIJAYAWADA: Government Advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy on Tuesday held talks with the employees association leaders and elicited their views on the implementation of Pay Revision Commission (PRC) recommendations.
During the one-on-one meeting with the association leaders, ahead of their meeting with Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on the issue, Sajjala pointed out that the government was already burdened with more than Rs 17,000 crore by giving 27% Interim Relief (IR) to the employees in the past two-and-a-half years.
He informed them that there was no truth in the reports that the wages of employees will come down by fixing 14.29 per cent fitment. On the other hand, there will be an increase in wages after the fixation of fitment. The government was not in a position to announce 45 per cent fitment as demanded by the employees’ unions. Explaining the precarious financial condition of the State government due to Covid, Sajjala said the government was not in a position to take any further burden beyond what was recommended by the officers’ committee on PRC. However, he said that the Chief Minister might announce more than what was recommended by the committee.
Asserting that the Chief Minister was keen on fulfilling his promises including regularisation of contract employees and abolition of Contributory Pension Scheme, he said that the government was taking every step to overcome the “practical difficulties”.
On the abolition of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), Sajjala said that Jagan had assured to abolish the CPS to ensure pension security to the employees after their retirement.
“We were not aware of the technical issues (for abolishing CPS) at that time. However, the government was exploring all options to ensure pension security to the employees,” he pointed out.
Stating that employees are part of the government, he said the officials’ committee made its recommendations after considering the prevailing situation. Admitting that there was delay in implementation of the PRC, he cited the outbreak of Covid as the cause for the same. However, after the meeting, employees’ association leaders made it clear that recommendations of the officials’ committee on PRC were not at all acceptable.
While AP Secretariat Employees Association said at least 34 per cent fitment should be fixed, AP JAC and AP JAC Amaravati demanded 55 per cent fitment.
Meanwhile, the finance department said the Kerala Government announced 10% fitment to its employees in July, 2019 and other States including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu implemented 14.29% fitment.