Congress Reiterates Demand For Full Salaries For Employees, Pensioners

Strongly condemning the cut in salaries for government employees and pensions, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President & MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Wednesday demanded that the state government pay the entire amount in two installments on the lines of other states like Maharashtra.

Addressing a press conference, Reddy said that it was strange that the Chief Minister had announced a huge salary cut just one week after the lockdown. While no other state in the country had announced a salary cut, Telangana, which KCR had repeatedly described as the richest state in the country, had not only announced a salary cut for employees by 50%, it had also slashed the pensioners' pay by half. It only exposed the government's incompetence in managing the state's finances, he said.

Reddy wondered how only one week of lockdown had pushed Telangana into such a huge crisis. He said that the average monthly revenues of the Telangana governnment were nearly Rs 10,000 crore and it spent just about Rs 3,400 crore on salaries and pensions. Therefore, it sounded illogical when the government claimed that it had no money to pay the full salaries due to just one week of lockdown. He said that the Congress had been pointing out since the beginning that the TRS government had set the wrong priorities and was spending money for non-productive purposes which was pushing the state into deep crisis. Telangana had inherited debts of Rs. 69,000 crore at the time of its formation on June 2, 2014, but the debts had now scaled up to nearly Rs 3 lakh crore, he pointed out. He demanded that the government release a White Paper on the state's financial condition.

The TPCC chief said that it was ironic that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM KCR had directed the private companies and institutions to pay full salaries to the employees, including for the lockdown period, on time, but that KCR himself had announced a pay-cut for the government staff and pensioners. He said that the Chief Minister should clarify on this.

He also said that a cut in the pensioners' payments was highly unacceptable as they were elderly persons with no alternate sources of revenues. They required money for medicines and other needs. Therefore, a cut in pensions would have a huge negative impact on their lives, he said.

The MP also said that the entire staff of the health department including doctors, nurses and para-medical staff, the police personnel, the municipal staff, and the staff of the revenue department had been working even more than in the normal days to beat the coronavirus. They were risking their lives to prevent the spread of the virus. "How is it justified for the government to cut their salaries at this crucial juncture?" he asked.

He also pointed out that the Chief Minister, in his speech in the Assembly during the budget session, had assured that the government would spend even Rs 10,000 crore if required to deal with the coronavirus situation. However, after just one week of the lockdown, he had announced a cut in salaries citing an economic slowdown.

He demanded that the state government pay the full salaries at least in two instalments as was being done by the Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh governments.

Reddy also condemned the TRS government for calling tenders of nearly Rs 20,000 crore for the Kaleshwaram project. What was the need to call for those tenders during an health emergency and when the entire focus should be on dealing with the epidemic, he asked. He also asked how the state government would fund those tenders when it was not in a position to even pay full salaries to its staff.