HYDERABAD: The Telangana cabinet on Thursday, October 1, approved two dearness allowance (DA) instalments for state government employees, and the matching dearness relief for pensioners, that have been pending since 2024.
The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, and its decisions were announced by Information and Public Relations Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, the Deccan Chronicle reported.
The two instalments are due from January 1, 2024, and July 1, 2024. The first is 3.64 per cent, which takes the cumulative DA to 37.31 per cent, and the second 2.73 per cent, which takes it to 40.04 per cent, the Deccan Chronicle reported on October 2. Ahead of the meeting, the Deccan Chronicle and The Hans India had put the second instalment at 2.74 per cent.
Together they add 6.37 percentage points. An employee on a basic pay of ₹1 lakh will get ₹6,370 more a month, The Hans India reported. The increase will be included in the October salary, which is credited on November 1.
The decision covers 6,91,940 people: 1,34,671 employees under the General Provident Fund, 2,21,464 under the Contributory Pension Scheme, and 2,94,945 pensioners, according to the Deccan Chronicle.
The arrears for the two instalments come to ₹6,174 crore: ₹3,810 crore for 33 months of the first DA and ₹2,364 crore for 27 months of the second. The arrears will be paid in instalments, The Hans India reported, and are likely to be credited to employees' General Provident Fund accounts. Amounts due to employees or pensioners who have died will go to their legal heirs.
The higher DA will cost the state about ₹208 crore more a month, or about ₹2,500 crore a year. Three more DA instalments, with arrears of ₹5,102 crore, are still pending, the Deccan Chronicle reported. Part-time assistants and village revenue assistants get a ₹100 monthly increase, effective from January 1, 2024.
The cabinet appealed to the Centre to declare drought-hit mandals and provide financial help, appointed a cabinet sub-committee on immediate relief, and called for an all-party meeting and consultations with farmers and experts. It directed that paddy procurement centres open shortly; the civil supplies department estimates that 65 lakh tonnes will need to be procured.
Peak electricity demand has reached a record 19,892 MW, against a normal 15,000 MW, the Deccan Chronicle reported. The cabinet approved adding 7,800 MW of renewable capacity: 3,000 MW of solar power, 4,000 MW of battery storage and 800 MW of wind.
The cabinet decided to stop 10 incomplete irrigation projects taken up on the EPC model under the Jalayagnam scheme and to call fresh tenders. It sanctioned ₹650 crore for the first phase of an integrated fruit market at Koheda in Abdullapurmet mandal, Ranga Reddy district, and approved a deputy commissioner's post and four more Group I officers at Telangana Bhavan in New Delhi to coordinate the state's projects and funds with the Centre.
Before the meeting, The Hans India had reported that the cabinet was also expected to discuss the second Pay Revision Commission report, a demand to replace the Contributory Pension Scheme with the Old Pension Scheme, and a ₹5 lakh Indiramma family insurance scheme. The post-meeting reports did not record decisions on these. The Deccan Chronicle had also listed the restoration of the Kaleshwaram project and the Musi rejuvenation project among the subjects before the cabinet, and The Hans India a report by the Keshava Rao committee on merging polytechnic colleges into a Skills University.
The cabinet was also to receive a status report from the sub-committee, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, that is preparing the Telangana Rising Global Summit 2.0. In August the cabinet approved holding the summit from December 7 at Future City, with the theme "Invest Telangana" and a focus on defence, aerospace and pharmaceuticals, The Hans India reported.
