23.39% pay rise for Andhra govt staff, retirement age up by 2 years

The wage revision would impose an additional financial burden of Rs 10,247 crore on the government per annum

The Andhra Pradesh government on Friday announced a wage enhancement for its employees with a fitment of 23.29 per cent while simultaneously increasing the retirement age from 60 to 62 years.

For the second day in a row, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy held talks with leaders of various employees' associations wherein he announced the wage revision, overruling the recommendations made by a high-level official committee headed by the Chief Secretary.

The Chief Minister also set timelines for addressing various other pending issues of the employees by June 30 this year. The pay revision would come into effect from July 1, 2018 while the monetary benefits would be paid with effect from April 1, 2020, Jagan told the employees' associations.

The new salaries with enhanced scales would be implemented from January 1, 2022, including for contract and outsourced staff. The wage revision would impose an additional financial burden of Rs 10,247 crore on the government per year.

Like many other states, Andhra Pradesh would henceforth adopt the Central Pay Commission recommendations for wage revision to its employees, an official release quoting the Chief Minister said. The enhanced retirement age would be applicable from January 1, 2022.

The Chief Minister told the employees' associations that the pending DA instalment arrears would be paid along with the January salary. Also, the pending payments like provident fund, insurance, leave encashment and others would be cleared fully by April.

On the Contributory Pension Scheme, the Chief Minister said a cabinet sub-committee was looking into it and a final decision would be taken by June 30.

A committee headed by the Chief Secretary would be constituted to look into the troubles plaguing the employees' health scheme and find solutions within two weeks.

The Chief Minister announced that 10 per cent of the flats, in the proposed Smart Townships scheme for middle-income group, would be reserved for state government employees who did not own a house. The flats would be sold to employees at a 20 per cent discount, he said.

Services of the 1.24 lakh employees recruited in the village and ward secretariats would be confirmed by June 30 and they would be paid revised pay scales from July.