Telangana forms cabinet panel to resolve issues of state government employees

The Telangana government on Thursday (October 24) constituted a Cabinet Sub-Committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka to resolve the issues of state government employees. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy constituted the Sub-Committee after a meeting with representatives of the Joint Action Committee (JAC), comprising state government employees.

Vikramarka, who holds the finance portfolio, will be the Chairman of the three-member panel, which will also include Industry and Information Technology Minister D Sridhar Babu and Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar. Adviser to the state government K Keshava Rao will be the special guest. The Cabinet Sub-Committee will hold department-wise meetings after Diwali.

The Prime Minister told JAC representatives that the government is ready to solve the problems of employees. He said that this meeting was the first step to resolve the grievances of the employees. He assured JAC that a decision on the release of pending dues of Dearness Allowance (DA) would be made by Friday evening, October 25.

The Prime Minister’s meeting with the JAC follows the decision of employee unions to announce their action plans in the first week of November if the government does not respond to their demands. Revanth Reddy also said that the government will take a decision on the Cabinet Sub-Committee report on Government Order (GO) 317 on job allocation and transfers in the cabinet meeting.

The Sub-Committee, chaired by Health Minister C Damodar Raja Narasimha, submitted its report to the Prime Minister on October 20. GO regarding the determination of local positions in government offices had become a source of concern for employees. The difficulties experienced due to transfer and change of duty force them to live apart from their families. Sridhar Babu and Prabhakar were members of the panel that held consultations with affected groups, including teachers’ unions and intellectuals, over the last three months.