Deal struck, Andhra Pradesh staff unions call off stir

VIJAYAWADA: Employees unions called off their proposed strike, scheduled from Monday, after arriving at an agreement with the government on the new Pay Revision Commission (PRC) provisions.

Leaders of the PRC Struggle Committee and the Cabinet sub-committee held talks for seven hours on the issues of interim relief (IR), house rent allowance (HRA) and city compensatory allowance (CCA) among others before reaching an amicable solution.

The government agreed to the implementation of a new PRC every five years, no recovery of IR, revision of HRA, a continuation of CCA and extension of PRC to the village and ward secretariat employees after completion of probation.

After the conclusion of the talks, the ministers briefed Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy who approved the fresh proposals.

The ministers’ committee of Botsa Satyanarayana, Buggana Rajendranath and Perni Venkataramaiah alias Nani and Chief Secretary Dr Sameer Sharma, government adviser Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and senior officials participated in the talks attended by employee union leaders K.R. Suryanarayana, Bopparaju Venkateswarlu, Bandi Srinivasa Rao, P. Venkatrami Reddy and others in the Secretariat at Velagapudi.

Addressing a joint press meet late on Saturday, Ramakrishna Reddy said that talks were held in a healthy atmosphere. He explained that the PRC report would be provided to the employees' unions and associations.

He said that the government agreed to change the HRA slabs in accordance with the population. The additional quantum pension would be seven and 12 per cent to the pensioners. He said the difference between the interim relief and the new basic wage would not be recovered.

The proposal to follow the Central PRC had been cancelled, Ramakrishna Reddy said.