Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has assured State government employees that their pending issues, including payment of dearness allowance, will be discussed in the State Cabinet meeting scheduled on Tuesday.
The government will also take a decision on the continuance of over 1,100 retired employees in different departments. Employees suffered during the past 10 years as the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government did not give them an opportunity to raise their problems. The Congress has, therefore, included employees’ problems in its manifesto and was committed to redress their grievances, he said.
The Chief Minister was speaking at a meeting with the representatives of different employee unions here on Sunday. He said members of former Chief Minister and BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s family were made honorary presidents of all unions and they were not bothered about the employees’ issues.
While the previous government had adopted suppressive attitude towards employees, the Congress government believed in resolving the issues through discussions. Accordingly, the meeting had been convened to instill confidence among employees and the government had appointed a Cabinet sub-committee to work out modalities for resolving issues raised by the staff.
The Chief Minister stressed the need for employee unions department-wise and said the government would take decisions in consultation with the employees.
Free power supply to State-run schools, colleges and universities
He said the government would take responsibility of providing power free of cost to State-run schools, colleges and universities. A decision on the issue would be taken during the Cabinet meeting. Steps would be initiated to fill vacant posts in government schools and the employees should have representation in resolving public grievances.
In this context, he recalled that separate Telangana could be achieved with the struggle of students, teachers, employees and trade unions, and not because of a single political party. Mr. Revanth Reddy pooh-poohed the BRS president’s claim that Telangana was achieved in a peaceful manner without bloodshed.
“Constable Kistaiah, Srikanthachary and others sacrificed their lives for separate Telangana,” he said. He lamented that the close to 10-year rule saw a huge decline in the coffers and the State had to depend on liquor sale for revenue. The Congress government on its part had not tried to publicise its decision to credit salaries of the employees in time.
Recruitment for more than 30,000 posts had been completed and the government was overcoming hurdles to fill more vacancies. Mr. Revanth Reddy was angered over claims by a section of leaders that the government would not last more than six months and said the Congress would continue in power for the next 10 years.
He said the government was firm on sending M. Kodandaram to the Legislative Council and discussions would be held with Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan in this regard.
