Pay me only after contract staffers get their salary, IAS officer tells AP govt

Hyderabad: Setting exemplary standards of leadership, a senior IAS officer in Andhra Pradesh has asked the state not to credit his salary starting December 1 until all contract employees are paid.

"It is the responsibility of senior officers like me to monitor and ensure that all the processes related to the release of salaries to contract employees are done on time," wrote Praveen Prakash, principal secretary (political, general administration), to the government.

The top bureaucrat is considered to be Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s blue-eyed officer. The babu has been in the news for various reasons, including the high-profile transfer of Chief Secretary L V Subramanyam.

In a 'self-declaration' dated November 8, 2019, the senior officer wrote to AP’s General Administration Department: “You may agree with me that the real arms of government are class-3 and class-4 employees. It is these class of employees who translate the vision of government at field level. Incidentally, most of class -3,4 employees are hired through contract or through outsourcing method. It has been observed that the payment of salary of these contract/outsourced employees is delayed substantially.”

According to the officer, there are several reasons for late payment of salary including delay in preparation of attendance sheets, bills and approval of the bills. His letter added, "It looks very odd that class 1 & 2 officers who are generally permanent state government employees get their salaries on the 1st of every month, while the contract /outsourced employees, who are from class 3,4 category, get their salaries only in the 2nd or 3rd week of the month or even later.”