Andhra Pradesh government should continue talks on PRC issue

The Andhra Pradesh government employees are getting ready for another round of strike. The employees feel that the senior officials of the Finance department were treating pay revision committee recommendations as a package instead of following the set pattern while fixing the new pay scales. They said the officials had misguided the Chief Minister by indulging in jugglery of figures and claim that the gross pay of the employees would be higher than what they were now drawing.

Quoting CAG report, officials argue that the revenue receipts of AP during the first half of the fiscal touched Rs 1,04,804.91 crore, including Rs 39,914.18 crore borrowings.

Half of the earnings, (Rs 50,419.15 crore) the CAG said have been used for welfare freebie schemes while interest payment (on old loans) and subsidy bill, along with salaries and pensions, rounded off the total expenditure of 1,04,723.91 crore. In the 2021-22 Budget, the state projected a revenue deficit of Rs 5,000.08 crore but between April and September alone it shot up to Rs 33,140.62 crore (662.80 per cent).

Still, this being employee-friendly government, it had decided to give all pending DAs from January salary to be paid in February. State finances are in bad shape. Revenue and expenditure have to be balanced and the employees should cooperate is what they have been saying in all the meetings they had with the employees' unions.

But the employees claim that they had been very patient and have been cooperating with the government all along. Though the government did not share the PRC recommendations with them, they in view of government's appeal went by the note circulated by the Finance Department. They even agreed for reasonable fitment percentage. All that they said was that it should more than interim relief.

But the Government after several rounds of meetings has treated PRC as a package and was trying to "cheat the employees." That is why it suddenly decided to give all pending DAs so that the employees can see a hike in salary by about Rs 5000 to Rs 7000.

The employees have a point here. DA is not part of PRC. It must pay whether PRC is implemented or not. While announcing DAs the government has slashed HRA and this would result in employees losing about Rs 6000 to Rs 7000 in his salary. As the prices of commodities goes up, the labour charges are hiked. Similarly, once in five years the wages of employees too should be increased. A genuine demand no doubt.

When the state is facing uptick in Covid cases, it may not be wise to allow the employees to go on strike. It would be better if the issue could be resolved by arriving at mutually accepted formula. The government can even put on hold the GOs issued late night on Monday if it is no mood to withdraw them immediately. This may pave way for another round of talks.