Coronavirus lockdown: Telangana announces massive pay cuts for netas, govt employees amid crisis
The coronavirus is adversely impacting Telangana’s economy. In this background, the state government has been forced to act with caution and foresight, a statement from CM K Chandrashekhar Rao's office said.
FollowHyderabad: With dwindling revenues following the ongoing lockdown in the state, the Telangana government on Monday decided to implement pay cut for government employees, including All India Services Officers and pensioners.
Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao held a review meeting on the state's finances in the backdrop of the coronavirus lockdown and impact on the revenues.
After the meeting it was decided to cut 75% of salaries of the chief minister, ministers, MLAs, MLCs, chairmen of various corporations and local public representatives, an official release said.
There will be a pay cut of 60% for AIS officers such as IAS, IPS and IFS while it will be 50% for state government employees. However, the government spared Class IV employees, outsourcing and contract employees with just 10% cut. The cut will be 10% for Class IV retired employees and for all others it will be 50%. Salaries and pensions of all employees of all public sector corporations and government aided organisations will also be deducted by 50%. The release did not clarify when the dues will be paid.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting convened by chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao at his camp office Pragati Bhavan to assess the state’s financial position.
Condemning the pay cut, the Telangana BJP, in a statement, said it was a hasty decision. "BJP feels it is an extreme measure and unwarranted," the party said in a release.
"Telangana is the only state in India which has resorted to such an unprecedented step to initiate a punitive measure, to cut salaries of state government employees by half, especially at such a critical stage when the government employees need to deliver more. It's atrocious that even the employee pension has been cut by 50%. BJP strongly objects to these irresponsible and unwarranted steps being taken by CM KCR," the statement added.
On Sunday, K Chandrashekar Rao had said that Telangana will be coronavirus-free by 7 April, stating, "After April 7, there will be no coronavirus patients if no new cases are reported from now. Self-control is very important in this lockdown period."
