Hyderabad: Telangana deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka has held the previous BRS government responsible for the sharp rise in pending dues of retired state government employees.
Responding to a question raised by BJP MLC AVN Reddy during the Question Hour in the Legislative Council on Friday, January 2, Bhatti said the previous government’s decision to increase the retirement age of employees had postponed the payout of their post-retirement benefits by three years, resulting in a heavy financial burden on the present Congress government.
BRS govt left pending bills worth Rs 40,154 cr: Bhatti
“The previous administration left us with pending bills worth Rs 40,154 crore as of December 2023, which also include employee arrears,” Bhatti said.
“Of these, we have cleared Rs 1,752 crore out of Rs 6,244 crore in pending dues and are releasing the rest in phases. We have fully cleared Rs 200 crore in pending medical bills and are now releasing an additional Rs 700 crore every month towards retired employees’ payments. Since our government took charge, we have been paying salaries on the first day of every month,” he said, adding that the BRS government was solely responsible for the accumulation of arrears.
During the discussion, BRS MLC Deshapati Srinivas expressed grief that 39 employees had died without receiving their post-retirement benefits. BJP MLC Anji Reddy urged the government to at least settle the dues of the deceased employees’ families at the earliest.
On the Gruhajyothi scheme
Replying to another question raised by Congress MLC Vijayashanti on the implementation of the Gruhajyothi scheme, Bhatti said the government had spent Rs 3,593.17 crore under the scheme, benefiting 52,82,498 households consuming below 200 units of electricity in the two DISCOM regions across the state.
