Amid strong indications from the government that Visakhapatnam will be made the Executive capital soon, government employees have apparently made up their minds to relocate. They however, feel that the process should be completed before commencement of the new academic year.
The employees, more particularly those working at the Secretariat, have a set of demands, including appropriate House Rent Allowance (HRA), City Compensatory Allowance (CCA), interest free-loans, and house sites. The employees are waiting for the government to make a formal announcement to submit their wish list.
When contacted, AP Secretariat Employees Association president K. Venkatarami Reddy said keeping in view past experience, the employees feel that the government should come out with a definite date of shifting. During the previous government, there were many dates in the months of June, July, August and finally, the offices were shifted after five months. Initially, there was no accommodation. House rents had suddenly shot up because of the increase in demand. There was discrimination in payment of HRA.
The HRA of 30% is not being paid to the employees, who joined the services in Amaravati. The civil servants were paid ₹40,000 extra in addition to 30% HRA. Likewise, the employees working in the AP Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) were paid 30% extra in addition to 30% HRA. The employees, now, expect that there would not be any disparity in payment of HRA, he says.
Spouse cases
Many employees constructed houses in and around Amaravati availing bank loans. They would have to be pay Equated Monthly Instalments (EMI) in addition to the rent in Visakhapatnam and 20 % of the total strength would fall under this category. The government should provide an interest-free loan of ₹20 lakh per employee. The same can be recovered from their salaries in five to 10 years, he says.
The association was collecting data of spouse cases. The government should take a considerate view of the cases. Also, there would other burdens on the employees. The employees have already paid school fee, donations, etc, to secure admissions to their wards in schools here. A suitable disturbance allowance has to be paid to the employees, he adds.