Five Lakh Outsourced Telangana Govt Staff Face Months of Salary Dues

Hyderabad: Close to five lakh employees, working for various departments in the state government on the rolls of outsourcing companies, have not received salary for several months, leading to protests and demonstrations.

Those working in some departments, such as Bhu Bharati — the flagship land records management initiative of the state government — have a backlog of 16 months. Mission Bhagiratha did not receive salary even once in the current financial year.

Election operators outsourced under the revenue department, who play a key role in the upcoming gram panchayat elections, have not received salaries for at least six months. The employees working for the irrigation department have unpaid salaries for three months, BC welfare department seven months, and land acquisition department nine months. The salary delay of three to five months has become routine in several other departments.

“I have been working here for 13 years, but I never faced a situation like this. Our salaries have been delayed by at least six months. Each month has become a struggle, as we are unable to pay rent and support our families,” said a female employee working for the revenue department in the city, on condition of anonymity.

On November 19, services at Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communicable Diseases (Fever Hospital) in Nallakunta were affected as temporary employees protested and stopped work — their salaries had been delayed by four months. On November 20, people working for the National Health Mission laid siege to the directorate demanding the payment of three months of salary.

Hundreds of contract and outsourcing staff demanded the immediate release of pending wages. They expressed frustration that while some states have regularised staff and increased salaries, Telangana has failed to ensure even timely payments. The employees urged the government to resolve the issue without further delay.

According to finance department records, the state has 5,21,692 regular employees and 4,93,820 temporary employees. The panchayat raj department has the highest number of temporary workers with 94,179, followed by the secondary education department with 78,146 and MA&UD with 62,913.

In the wake of delayed salaries, outsourcing employees have questioned the need for them to work through agencies when the government has already promised the formation of a corporation.

“I fear that if this continues, outsourcing employees may resort to extreme steps like committing suicide due to lack of salary or inability to pay house rent, children’s fees or loans. When the government can help gig workers by establishing a board, why not a commissionerate for us — which was also promised? We are losing close to `5,000 per month as commission to these agencies. We hope Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy understands the grievances of outsourcing employees,” said Lakshmaiah Puli, the state president of the Outsourcing Employees JAC.

The salary of the outsourced employees ranges from Rs 13,611 to Rs 20,750. If the government decides to do away with agencies, employees would receive salaries ranging from Rs 17,601 to Rs 26,358, argues Lakshmaiah, who recently submitted a representation to the government.

While acknowledging the severity of the situation, an official of the labour department said that it is a major policy decision that must be taken by the government. “Yes, Andhra Pradesh has come up with a corporation to resolve this issue. However, there is no progress in this direction in Telangana. Since it’s a major policy decision, the government needs to take a call,” said a senior official of the department.