The Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday announced that three frontline departments –police, medical and health and sanitation wing of the municipal administration – would be exempted from the salary cut being enforced on the government employees with effect from this month.
On April 1, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in AP announced slashing of salaries of various categories of employees, starting from 10 per cent to 60 per cent, on the ground that all the revenue streams of the government have “totally dried up” in view of the ongoing lockdown to fight COVID-19.
The government, however, described it as partial deferment, rather than a pay cut.
On Saturday, the chief minister decided to exempt all the police personnel, employees of the medical and health department including doctors and paramedical staff in various government hospitals and also ground staff working in the sanitation wings of the municipalities and municipal corporations from the “salary deferment” order.
According to an official release from the chief minister’s office, a government order to this effect would be released shortly.
The official release said Jagan had appreciated the services of the police, doctors, paramedical staff and sanitation wing department, medical and health department and the sanitation wing employees of the municipal bodies in fighting against the spread of Coronavirus.
{{/usCountry}}The official release said Jagan had appreciated the services of the police, doctors, paramedical staff and sanitation wing department, medical and health department and the sanitation wing employees of the municipal bodies in fighting against the spread of Coronavirus.
{{/usCountry}}These employees are working round-the-clock, risking their lives in the present scenario and hence, their services should be acknowledged. “Though the state is going through a grim financial situation, the government decided to give them full salaries as a recognition to their services,” the official release said.
On Friday, the Telangana government, too, issued an order, paying full salaries to the employees of the Medical and Health and Police departments would be paid for the month of March. However, there was no mention of sanitation employees in the order.