Telangana govt employees salary to be linked with their elderly parents

Hyderabad: The state government is seriously considering linking the salary of government employees to their taking care of their elderly parents. Government departments have received complaints from elderly parents that their children are neglecting them and not paying for their maintenance.

In some cases, the parents have even been thrown out of their homes. One such case was reported from Nalgonda. Sixty similar complaints have been lodged by elderly parents with various departments.

The government plans to deduct the salary of such employees and pay it to the neglected parents every month, but first it will consult the employees’ unions. The Assam government has recently brought in such legislation, which has inspired the Telangana government.

The issue of employees neglecting their elderly parents came to light when Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was discussing with officials a scheme to pay a monthly pension of Rs 1,000 to single women from poorer sections, from April 1.

A survey had been conducted to determine the number of such women and officials brought to the notice of the CM that during the survey they received complai-nts about some employees neglecting their parents. Some of them lived alone after the death of a spouse and they too sought pension.

TRS MLC and chief whip in the TS Legislative Council, Paturi Sudhakar Reddy, who was present at the meeting, said, “The CM was moved by this and asked officials to explore the possibility of bringing an Assam-type law in this regard. He said the state government should take responsibility for ensuring that the maintenance amount for neglected parents be taken from their children. He asked officials to hold consultations with employees’ unions on this.”

Mr Reddy said that the parents say that because their children are government employees, they are ineligible even for the Rs 1,000 Aasara old-age pension. “While their children are ignoring them by not giving them maintenance amo-unt, the government too is denying them Aasara pension. In this way, they are suffering both ways,” Mr Reddy said.