Telangana cabinet has decided to clear pending dues of serving employees and pensions of retired staff in the next 100 days. The plan of action to implement it will be finalized in the next cabinet meeting, to be held on May 4. The cabinet has also decided to contribute 50 percent of their salaries to clear the dues.
In a press conference after the meeting, I&PR Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy said that the cabinet expressed serious concern about the accumulation of thousands of crores of pending dues over the last ten years of BRS tenure.
Congress govt blames BRS:
He remarked that there were no pending dues during the formation of Telangana in 2014 but delays by the BRS government in releasing retirement benefits and increasing retirement age to 61 from 58 by the BRS have caused difficulties to pensioners and retirees and their families.
He noted that pending dues for regular employees amounted to Rs 6,200 crore and Rs 8,000 crore for retired employees. He said that immediate steps will be taken to ensure that retired staff are not forced to run around government offices for their dues. The cabinet will reportedly explore all avenues to mobilise resources and arrange funds despite the state’s financial constraints.
The cabinet has asked resource mobilization sub-committee to hold discussions with all the key stakeholders to clear the dues within the 100-day timeframe.