Telangana employees disappointed as talks with Chief Secretary fail to yield results

Talks between Telangana government employees and Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju over long-pending demands failed to produce results, leaving lakhs of employees and pensioners disheartened. The Telangana Employees’ Joint Action Committee (TGEJAC) has convened an emergency State-level meeting to decide its next course of action.

Hyderabad: State government employees’ talks regarding their long-pending demands with the Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju on Wednesday failed to yield positive results leaving lakhs of employees and pensioners disappointed.

This prompted the Telangana Employee Joint Action Committee (TGEJAC) to call for a crucial State-level meeting on Thursday to chalk out their future course of action.

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The talks on four major demands – PRC, DAs announcement, abolition of CPS and clearing pending bills – were twice deferred by the government.

Earlier, the TGEJAC postponed its proposed protest on September 10 following an assurance by Sanjay Jaju that the promise on their demands by the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on May 2, would be addressed. Following this, the employees and pensioners pinned their hopes on Wednesday talks.

However, they were left disappointed after the Chief Secretary in principle agreed to propose to the Cabinet for a payment of one Dearness Allowance (DA) for Dasara festival and another for Ugadi festival. The government owes six DAs to the employees and pensioners for the last three years.

Employees are also aggrieved with delays over the Pay Revision Commission (PRC). The PRC has been due since July 1, 2023 and the previous BRS government had on October 2, 2023 appointed a commission headed by retired bureaucrat N Shiva Shankar and also announced interim relief for employees.

However, since coming to power in December 2023, the Congress government has been delaying the PRC announcement. During the talks, the government, according to employees, attempted to stall the issue further by pointing out that the PRC report was yet to be received. The government suggested that the report might take a month or two, after which a political decision would need to be taken.

Additionally, the employees for long have been demanding the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) abolition and reverting to the Old Pension Scheme. However, the government informed the TGEJAC that it would constitute a committee on CPS without specifying a timeline for panel constitution and report submission.

Further, while the TGEJAC sought payment of pending bills worth Rs.2,000 crore every month, as was done earlier, the government offered to pay around Rs.1,000 crore a month as is being paid now.

TGEJAC Chairman Maram Jagadeeshwar and Secretary General Eluri Srinivas Rao said the talks with the government were ‘unsuccessful’ as the meeting ended without clear decisions or timelines on issues.

An emergency state-level meeting of the presidents and general secretaries of all affiliated associations would be held on Thursday under the TGEJAC to discuss the matter and future course of action, they added.

Meanwhile, another employees’ JAC Chairman V Lachi Reddy and Secretary General V Rajashekhar said the Chief Secretary agreed in principle for one DA at 3.64 percent and another at 2.74 percent, subject to Cabinet’s approval.