VIJAYAWADA: Stating that Andhra Pradesh was facing severe revenue deficit because of the State bifurcation in 2014, and the Covid pandemic worsened the situation, Principal Secretary (Finance) SS Rawat has said despite odds, the government has implemented 27 per cent of interim relief to the employees and resolved various issues pertaining to them.
Addressing the representatives of various employees associations at the AP Civil Services Joint Staff Council meeting held in the Secretariat on Friday, Rawat said steps would be taken to clear GPF, APGLI, medical reimbursement and other bills related to the employees in a phased manner by March 2022 as the State economy was on a recovery path for the past two to three months.
The Joint Council meeting held on Friday was a continuation to the meeting held on October 29 under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma.Informing that an action plan would be devised for clearing the pending DA, Rawat, while saying that AP is in seventh place in terms of paying wages to employees, maintained that steps would be taken to make the State top in the category.
He also announced to take up an inquiry into the alleged withdrawal of funds from the employees’ GPF accounts without their approval. Speaking on the occasion, Principal Secretary (Services and HRM) Sasi Bhushan Kumar said that the officers’ committee constituted to study the Pay Revision Commission (PRC) report will meet soon and submit a report along with its recommendations to the government.
He said the members of the officers’ committee could not meet so far as they were involved in the arrangements to be made for the 29th Southern Zonal Council meeting to be held in Tirupati on November 14. After the event, the committee will discuss the PRC report and give its recommendations to the government, he explained. He also said that steps were being taken for payment of wages to all the regular and outsourcing employees on the first day of every month. Representatives of 13 employees’ associations attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, expressing dissatisfaction over not disclosing the PRC report, representatives of a few employees associations staged a walkout at the meeting. Leaders of the AP JAC and AP JAC Amaravati accused the government of delaying the process of fixing fitment, allowances and other benefits under the PRC though it was submitted about a year ago.
Seeking to know why the government was hiding the report, AP JAC and AP JAC Amaravati leaders Bandi Srinivas and Bopparaju Venkateswarlu said government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy announced to release the report by the end of October, but it did not happen. They accused the government of delaying the PRC issue in the name of committees and added that they will take their future course of action after talks.