Telangana govt deducts EHS premium sans health cards, staff fume

The Telangana government has deducted 1.5 per cent of salaries from employees, doctors, healthcare staff and teachers towards the Employees Health Scheme (EHS) despite not setting up the trust, issuing guidelines or signing agreements with hospitals.

Hyderabad: Neither the Employees Health Scheme (EHS) trust was set up, guidelines and health cards were rolled out nor agreements with hospitals were signed, yet the Telangana Congress government deducted 1.5 percent as EHS premium contribution from salaries of its employees, doctors, healthcare staff and teachers’.

While the employees expected some good news on the occasion of the State Formation Day celebrations scheduled for Tuesday, they were in for a rude shock when they noticed their deductions in their pay slips.

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Employees claimed that the government did not provide any prior information nor issued any orders but deducted the premium without taking their consent.

The deduction, according to employees and teachers, ranged from Rs 907 per month to Rs 3,750 per month depending on the cadre and position. They also claimed two premiums were deducted if both spouses were government employees.

Earlier, as per government directions, 1,07,926 out of 2,98,888 employees uploaded their family information till the last count on Saturday. However, premiums were deducted not only from those who uploaded their details but also from those who did not.

Employees’ union leaders claimed that deducting money from salaries without following due legal process amounts to a constitutional violation. They also claimed that deductions without employee consent violate legal protections and that employee approval is mandatory before any salary deduction.

TS UTF president Chava Ravi and general secretary A Venkat said at a time when the government should be addressing their concerns and implementing the health scheme transparently, imposing salary deductions in such a hurried manner without taking the necessary steps is creating several doubts among employees.

TPTF additional state general secretary Muthyala Ravinder demanded the government immediately formulate and release the required guidelines for EHS implementation. He also demanded that the amount deducted from employees’ salaries without such guidelines being in place should be credited back to their accounts.

SGTU president K Mahipal Reddy warned that the unilateral decisions taken by the Finance department could bring embarrassment to the State government.