Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao may increase age of retirement to save funds

Hyderabad: The TS government is under pressure from employees to raise the retirement age from 58 years to 60, to put off for two years the huge expenditure towards payment of retirement benefits.

About 60,000 employees are set to retire this year, and another 50,000 next year. The government needs to pay them over Rs 3,000 crore as retirement benefits.
While employees’ associations are asking the government to bring the retirement age on par with AP staff, the finance department too is learnt to have advised the government to increase retirement age to put off the financial constraints for two years.

Official sources said the government wants to wait till August-end, when the term for the Kamalanathan committee for bifurcation of staff between TS and AP ends, to make an official announcement over increasing the retirement age. This is because TS employees’ associations are apprehensive that if the government raises retirement age before the division of staff, Seemandhra employees working in TS may change their option from AP to TS and secure postings here.

TNGOs Association, the major employees association, has been demanding an increase in retirement age ever since AP raised it in June 2014. Association leaders have met Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao several times and taken up the issue with him. They said that Mr Rao is in favour of raising the retirement age but is waiting for the right time to announce the decision.

The government has huge financial commitments for the next three years including irrigation projects, Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiya and 2BHK housing scheme among others and would welcome a breather.