The Coronavirus impact is shattering the economies across the globe. Things are even worse in India where there is a complete Lockdown for three weeks. All the Revenues of the Government are down leaving no elbow space to manage the Government’s regular expenses from April 1st.
In the event of this, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao had taken a brave decision. A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao reviewed the financial condition of the State and decided to impose cuts in salaries and pensions paid to all government employees including retired employees (pensioners) for the month of March.
Accordingly, the salaries of the Chief Minister, State Cabinet Ministers, MLCs, MLAs, State Corporation chairpersons and members of both urban and rural local bodies will be slashed by 75 percent. Similarly, there will be a 60 percent slashing imposed on salaries paid to civil servants including IAS, IPS, and IFS officers.
There will be a 50 percent slash in salaries of employees of all other categories including retired employees (pensioners). However, only 10 percent of the salaries would be slashed for Class-IV, outsourcing and contract employees including retired Class-IV employees.
Meanwhile, employees of all public sector corporations and organizations obtaining the government grants will receive 50 percent of their salary for this month. This may be the first time pay cuts were imposed for Government employees in the Telugu States. If this is the case with a cash-rich Telangana, we can only imagine what is happening in Andhra Pradesh.
The fact that all the elections were over in Telangana eased the stress on KCR in taking the decision but AP CM Jagan will not have that liberty.
