Govt. employees call off proposed strike upon reaching a ‘good deal’

Fitment fixed at 23%; PRC term reduced to 5 years; four slabs for HRA

After nearly seven hours of negotiationson the Revised Pay Scales-2022 on Saturday, leaders of the PRC Sadhana Samiti called off the proposed indefinite strike upon most of their demands being conceded by the Group of Ministers (GoM), who were entrusted with the task of sorting out the issues that led to a confrontation in the initial stages.The employees’ associations called the mutual agreement a ‘good deal’ and thanked Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for being sympathetic to their concerns, while tendering an apology for making some caustic remarks during the course of their agitation that culminated in a massive show of strength in Vijayawada on February 3. The GoM consisted of Buggana Rajendranath Reddy,Botsa Satyanarayana and Perni Venkataramaiah and they were assisted by Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Secretary (HR) Sashi Bhushan Kumar and adviser (employees’ welfare) P. Chandrasekhar Reddy.Bandi Srinivasa Rao, Bopparaju Venkateswarlu, K.R. Suryanarayana and Venkatarami Reddy represented the PRC Sadhana Samiti.Announcing the outcome of the discussions, government adviser (public affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said it was agreed to reduce the term of the Pay Revision Commission (PRC) from 10 years, which was the norm adopted from the Central government, to five years.There will be now four HRA slabs of 10%, 12%, 16% and 24% in cities / towns having a population of less than 50,000, 50,000 to 2,00,000, 2,00,000 to 50 lakh, and above 50 lakh, which will cover officers and all employees of the Secretariat and offices of Heads of Departments who shifted from Hyderabad in the wake of bifurcation.

These HRA slabs would come into effect from January 1, 2022.Fitment has been fixed at 23% and it was decided not to adjust the Interim Relief for the period July 1, 2019 to Match 31, 2020.Besides, the meeting resolved to continue City Compensatory Allowances at the old rates, disclose the Ashutosh Misra committee report, which was one of the main demands, after a fresh G.O. is issued, and to give a roadmap on scrapping the Contributory Pension Scheme by March 31, 2022.Ever since the government issued G.O. Ms No.1 on January 17, 2022, the employees have intensified their agitation with the manner of calculation of HRA slabs, the proposed adjustment of interim relief, and fitment remaining the sticking points in the talks held on several occasions earlier. The deliberations began around 2 p.m. and went into late night as the deadline set by the employees fast approached. They said the Sadhana Samiti leaders would meet the CM on February 6 to express their gratitude.