A report in a Telugu newspaper has led to a controversy over the Andhra Pradesh state government’s ability to pay salaries to its employees for last month. In a report titled ‘Dabbullevu – Aarthika Agaadhamlo Rashtram’ (No money – state in financial crisis) on its front page, Andhra Jyothy newspaper- that has often been criticised of being a pro-TDP newspaper- claimed that thousands of government employees had not received their salaries for September by the end of the day on October 1.
The report claimed that pensioners were also faced with the same situation, while APSRTC employees had suffered a pay cut, with only 80% salaries disbursed. “Pending bills on one hand and welfare schemes on the other are crumbling the state treasury. The Finance Department is struggling just to pay employees on time,” the report says.
Meanwhile, the Principal Secretary of the Finance Department of Andhra Pradesh responded to the report saying it was not factual. According to the Finance Department’s figures, on October 1, Rs 2,083.36 crore was granted and released for the salaries of 3,26,155 employees, while Rs 1,064.26 crore was released for 3,62,174 pensioners. The total of Rs 3151.62 crore is greater than the amount paid in September 2019 by Rs 155.22 crore, the Finance Department stated.
The Andhra Jyothy report also goes on to claim that although authorities suggested borrowing Rs 1,500 crore from the RBI, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy refused to go on overdraft in spite of the inconveniences.
The report also mentioned dharnas by APSRTC workers who were upset with the pay cut after the Transport Corporation’s merger with the state government. Although the Employees’ Union did hold protests across the state on Wednesday, according to union leaders, full salaries have been disbursed to employees as of Thursday.
Challa Chandraiah, Working President of YSR RTC Union, said that there had been talk among officials about a fund deficit of about 20%, which was managed by the end of the day on October 1. “Salaries for a few employees started to get deposited by Tuesday evening. Since October 2 was a bank holiday, the rest of the employees received their salaries today,” he said.
YV Rao, President of the APSRTC Employees’ Union, also confirmed that the full amount of salaries have been deposited as of Thursday.
The report had also claimed that the state’s treasury is nearly empty. It expressed concern over the state government’s ability to manage welfare schemes, such as Vahana Mitra and Rythu Bharosa, to be implemented this month. The government has not responded to these claims yet.