After Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, another Congress-ruled state is facing a financial crunch. Speaking in the State Legislative Council, the Telangana Chief Minister Anumula Revanth Reddy admitted that the state is going through a financial crisis and therefore it is difficult for the government to pay the salaries of the government employees on the first of every month.
Admitting that government employees have a legitimate right to receive the Dearness Allowance (DA), Reddy appealed to the government employees not to insist on receiving the DA due to the poor financial situation of the state.
15 months after forming the government in the State, Reddy blamed the former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for the state’s financial crisis. He said that his government is not even able to fulfil its election promises because it is still repaying the huge loan amount left behind by the former KCR government.
Salary payments of ASHA and Anganwadi workers deferred
Earlier on Wednesday (12th March), CM Reddy had announced a delay in the payment of salaries to ASHA and Anganwadi workers. Giving a veiled threat to government employees, Reddy said that if they did not cooperate with the government, the financial crisis would worsen and salary disbursements would be further affected. “With a monthly revenue of Rs.18,500 crore against the required Rs.22,000 crore to fulfil all our commitments, we are deferring payments of salaries to ASHA and Anganwadi workers, and welfare schemes like Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyana Lakshmi. Basically, we are following a rotation system from one section to another to defer payments,” he said. He added that he was even willing to hand over financial management to government employees. “Let them decide how to distribute funds,” he said.
BRS accuses Reddy government of ruining the state’s financial condition
BRS working President KT Rama Rao cornered Reddy for his government’s failure to pay salaries on time. He held Congress responsible for destroying the financial condition of the state. “Running a State is not just about money distribution, but also creating wealth. Telangana’s economy, built over a decade, has been ruined within months by an incompetent leader,” he said. Taking a dig at the Reddy government, Rao said that the government had funds for its Delhi high command but not for paying the salaries, pensions or retirement benefits to the employees.
