Andhra Pradesh Approves Pension Scheme, Regularisation Of 10,000 Contract Staff

Approving Guaranteed Pension Scheme (GPS) to employees, 6,840 new government jobs and regularisation of nearly 10,000 contract employees are some of the key decisions taken by the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet presided by Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday.

Under the GPS scheme, eligible employees will receive 50 per cent of their last drawn salary as pension, including receiving dearness relief (DR) on the lines of the Central Government declaring dearness allowance and DR twice a year.

"Keeping the future of the state and the welfare of employees in mind, GPS has been amended," a government release said.

With respect to contract employees, all such staff who logged service of at least five years by June 2, 2014 would be regularised.

Likewise, the Cabinet has decided to offer uniform House Rent Allowance (HRA) for all employees working in a district headquarters at 16 per cent.

Similarly, the Cabinet has approved the sanction of DA and DR at 2.73 per cent starting January 1, 2022, which will further cost the exchequer Rs 200 crore and has also approved the establishment of the 12th Pay Revision Commission (PRC).

Further, the Cabinet has decided to set up two junior colleges in the two most populous places in every mandal of each district.

The Cabinet has decided to lease out 28.3 acres of Chittoor Dairy land to Amul for 99 years and sanctioned 65 jobs for the fisheries university coming up at Narasapuram in West Godavari district.

In preparation for three new medical colleges that will get ready by next year at Pulivendula, Paderu and Adoni, the Cabinet has approved 2,118 posts with 706 for each one.

Likewise, the Cabinet has decided to appoint watchmen at 476 junior colleges, including appointing a deputy educational officer at revenue divisional rank, to oversee the transformation occurring in government schools.

On the education front, the state has entered into an agreement with Educational Testing Services (ETS), which is based out of Princeton in the United States, to extend TOEFL examinations to government school students starting from Class 3.

Out of the 6,840 new jobs, four armed reserve police battalions will be set up with a strength of 980 posts each, adding up to 3,920 posts. These battalions will come up in S M Puram in Srikakulam district; Chittoor; Annangi in Prakasam district and Rajamahendravaram.

Likewise, the Cabinet has approved green hydrogen and green ammonia policy with an aim to produce 0.5 million metric tonne of hydrogen and 2 billion metric tonne of ammonia in the next five years.

The Cabinet has allowed Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited (APSFL) to borrow Rs 446 crore for providing digital services and sanctioned two acres land to set up the National Centre for Design Control (NCDC) at Tadepalli in Guntur district among others.

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