After Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Defers Salaries Of Government Employees

The Andhra Pradesh government late on Tuesday night announced deferment of salaries to its employees, including the Chief Minister, Cabinet Ministers and IAS officers.

In an order issued around midnight, Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney said that the imposed lockdown have "completely dried-up" state's revenue streams.

The deferments will range from 10 to 100 per cent for different categories of employees.

While the Chief Minister, Ministers and Legislators will get a cut of 100 per cent, the IAS, IPS, IFS and all-India service officers will get 60 per cent cut, the class 2 and class 3 employees will take a 50 per cent cut, while the class 4 employees will suffer a 10 per cent cut.

According to the order, the deferments will be applicable to pensions and honorariums as well. Apart from Class 4 employees, outsourced and contractual staff and the newly employed village and ward secretariat staff will be paid 90 per cent of their salaries, with only a 10 per cent deferment, the order said.

"While the revenue streams have totally dried up due to the lockdown, the demand on state resources has increased tremendously for contact tracing, quarantining, providing personal protection equipment, drugs, health facilities, etc. and for providing financial assistance to the poor people, most affected by the lockdown," Ms Sawhney has said.

The salary deferments in Andhra Pradesh were announced hours after the Telangana government took a similar decision.

The Telangana government also imposed salary cuts ranging from 10 per cent to 75 per cent for its executive, political representatives and employees on Tuesday.