Employees of the State government have pinned hopes on the announcement of the Pay Revision Commission, the first after the formation of Telangana state, by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao soon.
Their confidence stems from the fact that the Chief Minister has convened a meeting with representatives of the joint action committee (JAC) of employees, teachers and workers on Monday afternoon.
Employees are hopeful that, during Monday’s meeting, the Chief Minister would announce a roadmap of the government’s response to the demands put forth by them.
The development follows the constitution of a Cabinet sub-committee headed by Finance Minister Eatala Rajender to look into the issues raised by the employees and the Cabinet panel had conducted meetings with representatives of staff associations for the past one week. The sub-committee comprising Ministers K.T. Rama Rao and G. Jagadishwar Reddy examined the issues raised by the employees and submitted its report to the Chief Minister on Friday.
The Chief Minister is expected to hold consultations with Chief Secretary S. K. Joshi and senior Finance department officials over the next couple of days before meeting the representatives of employee unions on Monday.
Mr. Rajender said in an informal chat with reporters that meetings had been held with representatives of the employees on May 4 and teachers the next day.
Employees submitted a charter of 18 demands and the teachers submitted representations related to 43 demands.
Constitution of the PRC, announcing a policy on transfers and effecting promotions, which were pending for long, have been the main demands of the staff associations, which also wanted restoration of the old pension scheme in place of the contributory pension scheme in force now.
Mr. Rajender said the government had proved many a time its “employee-friendly” attitude as they formed an important part in the progress registered by the State in the past four years.
The employee unions on their part were hopeful that the government would announce appropriate interim relief in the event of delay in the constitution of the PRC.
The employees had requested the Cabinet sub-committee to consider their demand for at least 40% interim relief in view of the significant increase in the cost of living over the past few years.
