The stalemate between Andhra Pradesh government and employees over pay revision continued on January 27, Thursday, with the issue remaining unresolved. On January 27, Andhra Pradesh government employees were agitated after an Advisor (Public Affairs) to the government Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy allegedly called the leaders of their associations “immature.” Speaking about the employees’ unions refusal to engage in talks with a government-constituted committee, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said that after participating in discussions with Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the employees were taking the discussions back to square one. “I’m not sure what to call it. It’s not mature. It’s not even immature, I would have to use bigger words which I don’t want to say.”
The Finance Department also issued a circular on January 27 ordering the Treasury officials to draw up this month's salary bills in accordance with the new pay scales, amid protests by employees demanding that the previous pay scale be continued.
The PRC (Pay Revision Commission) Struggle Committee stayed away from talks with the government committee for the third day to resolve the pay revision issue. Employees’ unions had earlier issued a strike notice saying they will go on strike from February 7 if their demands aren’t met. The employees’ union leaders reportedly took exception to the advisor's remark calling them “immature” and demanded that it be withdrawn immediately.
“We are ready for talks with the employees' associations … We're ready to climb four steps down,” said the Government Advisor (Public Affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy. He allegedly said the employees' leaders should not act in an ‘immature’ manner. “‘Immature’ is a small word. I should use something bigger,” he allegedly remarked.
Amid this, the employees started submitting request letters to the drawing and disbursing officers seeking the salary for January 2022 as per the old scales of pay. “I request my salary to be paid only in old scales, including dearness allowance sanctioned up to July 1, 2021. My salary will be lesser if fixed in Revised Pay Scales 2022 as per the Government Orders,” the employees said in the letter.
They said they would be willing to accept the new pay scales after exercising their option as and when provided. Then, the Finance Department issued yet another circular memo saying the January month's salary should be paid as per the revised scales.
Special Chief Secretary (Finance) Shamsher Singh Rawat was quoted as saying in the memo that preparations of salary bills for January were considerably behind the prescribed timeline and he directed that all the bills be uploaded by Friday, January 28, and salaries and pensions credited on February 1.