Salary hike okayed for Telangana govt employees

Hyderabad: Government employees in Telangana would get a substantial hike in salaries as the ruling TRS today decided to implement the first pay revision after the state's formation in June 2014.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao told reporters here that a fitment of 43 per cent would be given to the employees, who were on the forefront of the separate statehood agitation. The fitment is fixed as per a formula that involves the basic salary and dearness allowance. The hike will be implemented with retrospective effect from June 2, 2014 (the day Telangana came into existence) and the new salaries would be paid from next month, he said.

Rao said that the government employees had played a key role in the separate statehood agitation, including participating in the sakala janula samme (strike by all sections of people) in 2013. Replying to a query, the Chief Minister said that the hike in salaries would cause a burden of Rs 6,500 crore on the state exchequer, but the government can bear the expense