AMARAVATI: State government employees associations are up in arms against the GOs issued by the government for implementation of the Pay Revision Commission (PRC) report. The unions have decided to launch an agitation if the GOs are not withdrawn.
Employees' leaders alleged that the government has deceived them with 'false promises'. "We have not seen pay-scales getting reversed just on the lines of reverse tendering system. We will not remain silent," said Amaravati JAC chairman Bopparaju Venkateswarlu. AP NGOs association president Bandi Srinivasa Rao demanded that the government should immediately suspend all the GOs issued in violation of the agreement made with them.
This is the first reaction of the employees after agreeing to the PRC fitment announced by the chief minister. The finance department had issued different GOs bringing the new pay-scales into effect. The new pay-scales will be implemented from January 2022, that is, employees will get the first revised salary in February.
Employees' associations had agreed to the 23 per cent fitment declared by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. They also welcomed the move to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62 years and release all the five pending dearness allowances in one go. However, they had not anticipated that salaries would be trimmed with a steep cut in house rent allowance (HRA).
Realising that the government might stick to its stance on the issue, the employees associations began lobbying with CMO officials and the chief secretary, seeking certain amendments to the chief minister's announcement on PRC fitment. However, the state government went ahead without making any changes. Angered by the government's decision to cut down the HRA and remove the city compensatory allowance (CCA), the employees associations declared they would not accept any of the GOs issued by the government. "We will not accept this PRC. We demand immediate rollback of the GOs," demanded Municipal Teachers Federation (MTF) state president S Ramakrishna. He said the MTF launched a state-wide protest against the PRC GOs by attending schools sporting black badges.
State secretariat employees received the biggest jolt as the 24 per cent HRA was allowed for those working in New Delhi and Hyderabad while those in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Guntur and Velagapudi would get 16 per cent. Employees in all other towns and cities would get around 8 per cent. Many heads of departments located in rural areas on the outskirts of Vijayawada would get an HRA cut to the tune of nearly 16 per cent. The state government has also decided to switch over to Central Pay Commission (CPC), which means there will be no revision in pay-scales for another decade. "The government has issued GOs by not granting the additional benefit to pensioners between 60-80 years," said Bandi Srinivasa Rao.
