Employee Association Will Be Given Top Priority, Says Revanth Reddy

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy launched a stinging attack on his predecessor K. Chandrashekar Rao for ignoring employee welfare even as he assured state staffers that the Congress government would take care of their interests.

“The person claiming to be `Telangana Bapu' has no required qualities,” Revanth Reddy said, in an attack on Rao. “Telangana philosopher Prof Jayashankar is the real Bapu of Telangana.” He was addressing government employees and teachers associations at the Marri Chenna Reddy Human Resources Development Institute here.

“It would be improper to claim that a single political party achieved Telangana statehood. The separate state was carved out due to the selfless struggle carried out by students groups, employees association, trade unions,” Revanth Reddy said.

Revanth Reddy said Rao was lying when he claimed that Telangana state was achieved without shedding a single drop of blood. “KCR family members may not have shed the blood. Many people like constable Kistaiah and Srikanta Chary offered their lives to achieve the dream. If we don't respect the real soul of Telangana , the Telangana society will never forgive us, he said.

Revanth Reddy said that the government would recruit for 30,000 jobs in the next three months. The government was trying hard to resolve the complex issues involved in recruitments. The government had already announced recruitment of over 11,000 teachers through the mega DSC, he said by stating that he has been working hard for 18 hours a day.

He said all employee associations of different departments would be given due importance and the Cabinet sub-committee will hold meetings with them before taking any final decision, A. Revanth Reddy said.

About 95 per cent of employees were working honestly. “Unlike the KCR government which behaved in a vindictive manner and banned the employees association, the Congress government believes that the department-wise employee associations must continue, Revanth Reddy said.

Government employees had been ignored for the last 10 years and they faced innumerable challenges. “KCR family members continued as honorary presidents of employees associations. The people’s government will take responsibility and address the problems of the employees,” he said.

“Though the employees were given salaries on the first day of the month, we have not attempted to claim credit. On the other hand, some useless people have been stating that the government would last for three months or six months. This is a government elected by people. It is the people's government and we will continue in power for 10 years,” he said and asked the Opposition to respect democracy.

Revanth Reddy also assured to elevate Prof. M. Kondandaram to the Legislative Council by discussing the issue with the Governor Tamilsai Soundararajan. “It is an honour for the Legislative Council to have such learned members,” he said.

The Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers' Union in their representation to the Chief Minister urged the government to abolish the contributory pension scheme and restore the old pension scheme. The other demands include implementation of Employee Health Scheme with equal contribution by the government and the beneficiaries, sanction of three pending dearness allowances (DAs) instalments, payment of pending bills by the finance department, enhance the interim relief from 5 per cent to 20 per cent and bring back the 144 Telangana state employees allotted to AP during bifurcation, sanction of new cadre stregnth to newly formed districts among other things.