CM Jagan to announce PRC in two or three days

VIJAYAWADA: The AP government would resolve the PRC issue in two to three days. Chief Minister Jagan held talks with leaders of government employees unions and associations in the Joint Staff Council meeting at the camp office in Tadepalli on Thursday.

Asking the unions to think in a pragmatic manner, the chief minister said he would make a statement on the PRC in two to three days’ time. “I have taken note of the issues raised by the unions and would rectify anomalies,” he said.

The CM said the State’s Own Revenues (SORs) was Rs 62,503 crore in 2018-19 and this decreased to Rs 60,934 crore in 2019-20. It was Rs 60,688 crore in 2020-21. The expenditure for employees' salaries and pensions was Rs 52,513 crore in 2018-19 while it has been increased to Rs 67,340 crore in 2020-21.

The increase in the expenditure was due to the decisions taken by the government for the benefit of the employees, the CM stressed.

He said the state government has given 27 per cent interim relief to employees after it came to power in 2019 and the amount that had been paid thus was of Rs 18,000 crore since July 1, 2019.

The salaries of Anganwadi and Asha workers as also the contract and outsourcing employees were increased and the expenditure on their salaries has been increased from Rs 1,198 crore to Rs 3,187 crore per annum.

Jagan said the merging of APSRTC in state government has burdened the exchequer of Rs 5,380 crore from January 2020 to October 2021. The setting up of Village and Ward Secretariats has caused an additional burden of Rs 12,300 crore per annum.

He said the recruitment of doctors, nurses and paramedical staff was done on a large scale and this had led to another Rs 820 crore burden per annum. APCOS was set up to benefit outsourcing employees and it has caused a burden of Rs 2,040 crore per annum on the state government.

The MPDOs promotional channel issue and VRO Grade -1 promotional channel issue were solved by the state government, the CM said, and listed out other employee-friendly steps of the state government.

Comparing Telangana with AP, Jagan said the net per capita income of Telangana was Rs 2,32,632 while it was only Rs 1,70,215 in AP. Telangana has spent Rs 22,608 crore on salaries and pensions for the first seven months from April to October while it was  Rs 36,000 crore for AP for the first seven months in 2021-22. This was Rs 16,053 crore in Gujarat and Rs 25,567 crore in Bihar, he noted.

The chief minister said the revenues of AP were declining while that of Telangana were increasing. “The burden would be  Rs 7,137 crore per annum if 14.29 per cent fitment is provided. DAs should be cleared by the time fitment is released. I am more compassionate, humanitarian and responsive when it comes to doing good to others,” the CM said.

Finance department has informed the CM that cash constraints were due to the bifurcation of the state and added that the net per capita income of the state is lowest compared to other south Indian states.