Steps to ensure benefits on day of retirement, says CM

Government committed to helping persons retiring after long years of service, says KCR

The State government has resolved to evolve a mechanism that will pave the way for releasing benefits to employees attaining the age of superannuation on the day of retirement itself.

The issue will be discussed in the next meeting of the State Council of Ministers and a decision would soon be taken in this regard. “The government, as a policy, is committed to help the employees retiring after putting in long years of service,” Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said.

The Chief Minister said it had been his desire to ensure that retirement benefits of the employees were finalized taking into consideration scale of pay, promotions and other aspects ahead of retirement so that they could be released on the day of retirement itself. “The heads of departments should make arrangements to felicitate the retiring employees and ensure that they are dropped at their respective homes after that,” he said.

Mr. Rao made this statement during the discussion in the Legislative Assembly when the issue of compassionate appointments in Singareni Collieries Company Limited came up in the Question Hour on Monday. He responded positively to the suggestion that posts to people being appointed on the compassionate grounds be based on the qualifications of the kin of the employees declared medically unfit.

“The issue will be definitely considered, but it will depend on the vacancies arising from time to time,” he said. On the deduction of Income Tax for the SCCL employees, he said he had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the issue seeking exemption to the staff from the payment of IT, but no action had been initiated so far. “We will continue our fight and raise the issue in Parliament too,” he averred.

Members from the coal belt area expressed concern that the medical board of SCCL had not met since the incidence of novel coronavirus and dependents of workers declared medically unfit were not being given employment on compassionate grounds. They lamented that the employees retiring from service were not being given benefits due to them on time.