Telangana government employees are now struck by a ‘second coronavirus strain’ through the KCR government’s ‘unscientific’ Pay Revision Commission (PRC), which had recommended just 7.5% fitment in salary hike for employees, charged senior BJP leader P. Muralidhar Rao on Friday.
“Our party is totally opposed to the PRC report, which is already late by three years. This is nothing but daylight murder of employee rights. The TRS government is sure to face their wrath as such a low hike was last given in 1974 and it is absolutely false to claim the amount spent on salaries here is highest in the country,” he told a press conference.
Mr. Rao questioned the criteria used by the PRC in reducing house rent allowance (HRA) and cutting 1% for health and accused the government of being totally ‘irresponsible’. “We totally condemn the commercial approach towards healthcare. We demand ₹20,00,000 gratuity as given by the Centre and States like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and others, to the staff here. A cashless health insurance scheme similar to the CGHS should also be introduced,” he said.
Picking holes in the PRC report, the senior leader said that contract employees and those working in the educational institutions got a raw deal too. “KCR government cannot hide behind the high debt for the low hike because it has been claiming the capital investment is for improving productivity. The Chief Minister claimed to be heading a rich State and now cannot make the employees suffer due to TS being a debt trap,” he averred.
“In any case, the people of Telangana, including the youth and unemployed, are not ready to believe the TRS any more as the PRC had revealed vacancies in the government. We have been highlighting the various ‘deficiencies’ in governance and had released chargesheets of various sectors. But, this is a paralytic government that functions only in fits and starts. For instance, it has been able to appoint only two VCs so far to the universities,” pointed out Mr. Rao.
Telangana was formed irrespective of political parties and TRS alone cannot claim credit so the party totally rejects the contention of Minister K.T. Rama Rao’s assertion that leaders of other parties had benefited only because of his party’s successful agitation for a separate State. The BJP leader also charged the TRS of trying to put obstacles in the path of collection of donations for the Sri Rama Janmabhoomi Temple by the trust concerned.
Training his guns on the Congress, he alleged that its Punjab government had sent ‘gangsters’ to Delhi to storm the Red Fort on Republic Day. Boycott of President’s address in support of the farmers’ agitation was an ‘insult’ to Parliament.