Leaders of the Andhra Pradesh United Teachers’ Federation (APUTF) have urged the State Government to ensure payment of their salaries on the first day of every month and release the pending arrears worth ₹18,000 crore immediately.
At a press conference, here on Saturday, the APUTF State president N. Venkateswarlu and general secretary K.S.S. Prasad said that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, ahead of the 2019 Assembly elections, had promised payment of salaries and DAs and an improved Pay Revision Commission (PRC). However, after nearly four years in power, government employees were being paid their salaries on the 17th day of every month, the DAs were not being announced in time and even if they were announced, they were not paid on time, they alleged.
They further recalled that in a Joint Staff Council meeting held on August 24, Ministers had assured the representatives of various employees’ unions that all pending arrears would be paid by September, but failed to keep their word.
They said that according to the information secured by them, the government owed the employees payment of arrears to the tune of ₹18,096 crore. Of this, PRC arrears amount ₹6,246 crore, the DAs announced before the PRC is ₹1,136 crore, DAs announced after the PRC is ₹4884 crore, PF loans and part-final payments are ₹1,000 crore, loans under Andhra Pradesh Government Life Insurance (APGLI) and final payments are ₹330 crore and surrendered leave and other arrears amount upto ₹4500 crore. Additionally, the government was meant to deposit nearly ₹2,500 crore to the accounts of employees covered under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
The leaders said that they would intensify their protests since the authorities concerned failed to respond to their phased agitations — on January 3, 12-hour dharnas would be organised in all the districts across the State and if the government failed to heed their plea, they would stage a State-level 36-hour dharna in Vijayawada on January 9 and 10.
