Hyderabad: Huge wage cut for government staff

Hyderabad: With the state kitty under strain as revenue generation during the last quarter of FY 2019-20 had taken a beating, the state government has decided to impose a heavy cut in salaries which are to be deposited in their accounts in the next two days.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who reviewed the financial situation of the state on Monday, decided that the salaries of the people's representatives (Chief Minister, Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, Corporation Chairmen and other elected representatives) have been slashed by 75 per cent.

A 60 per cent cut will be there for the bureaucrats like IAS, IPS and IFS.

All the other category government officials will get 50 per cent of their salary only. Fourth grade, outsourcing and contract employees' salaries will be cut by 10 per cent. Salaries of the employees working with thee Public Sector Units and the other organizations receiving government grants will also be reduced.

Official sources said that the revenue collections had dropped to all time low after the trade activity came to a grinding halt since March second week.

It may be recalled here that The Hans India on March 28 with the headline TS Stares at Major Financial Challenges in 2020-21 Fiscal indicating that the government may go in for major and hard decisions.

While the government would be reimbursing the amount which it would be deducting now at a later stage, it is not known how much time it would take.

It is also not clear whether the deductions would be only for the March salary to be paid on April 1 or will it continue for a couple of months more. Sources say that the possibility of employees getting less salary may continue till June as even if the lockdown is lifted, revenue position cannot improve overnight.

It is learnt that the government at one stage explored the possibility of raising loans but in view of the present