PRC resumes work to fix pay scales for govt staff

​Hyderabad: As the Assembly elections are over, the first PRC (Pay Revision Commission) headed by CR Biswal resumed action on Thursday to finalise the pending revised pay scales of the government employees. Tentatively, the commission will submit its report to the government in February first week. However, the PRC recommendations are unlikely to be enforced till August in view of the government decision to present a vote-on-account in March.   

The government was to have implemented the new PRC in July last itself. Before the revision of the scales, the employees would have to get IR (Interim Relief). Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao made the promise of the disbursement of IR from August last. Due to delay in the finalization of the IR structure by the commission, the government deferred it indefinitely. 

The commission put on hold the whole exercise of finalizing the report soon after the issue of the notification by the Election Commission for the Assembly elections in November. With the mounting pressure from the employees demanding enforcement of fresh PRC at the earliest, the commission called for a meeting with TGOs (Telangana Gazetted Officers) and TNGOs (Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers) and Secretariat Employees union leaders for talks.  Once the consultations with the employees’ unions on their demands are over, the commission will hold a meeting with the state Finance department and put an end to the deadlock on the finalisation of the pay structure.  

The government has already analysed the financial implications of the IR and PRC. The rough estimates show that a mere 1 per cent IR will put an additional burden of Rs 300 crore per annum on the state exchequer. A hike of 10 per cent would increase the burden to Rs 3,000 crore per annum and 20 per cent to Rs 6,000 crore per year.  Officials said that the government is unlikely to implement the PRC till August as the state has already decided to present a vote-on-account  for a period of  six months from April to August in the place of regular budget in the Assembly.