Hyderabad, February 26 The earnings of senior sweepers with 20 years of experience in Telangana power utilities have increased to Rs two lakh per month following the implementation of successive Pay Revision Commissions (PRCs), Chief Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao said.
Rao, who was speaking at a conference on the 16th Finance Commission report here, said the pensions and salary bill of Telangana has increased from Rs 1,600 crore when it was formed in 2014 to Rs 6,000 crore now.
He also said the earnings are substantial as they rise cumulatively over the years following the implementation of the recommendations of Pay Revision Commissions (PRCs).
"With the implementation of recommendations of Pay Revision Commissions, salaries of sweepers in some power utilities have gone up to Rs two lakh per month... while that of the chief engineers has gone up to Rs seven lakh," Rao said in the conference on Wednesday.
However, he also said Telangana has the state's own resources and tax buoyancy.
The absence of the state's own resources would have warranted borrowings, he further said.
Rao said the Finance Commission's report has opened important questions on fiscal consolidation, off-budget borrowings and the growing burden of subsidies at the state level.
He drew attention to the need to curb off-budget borrowings, particularly in states like Telangana and innovative methods on loss-making Public Sector Enterprises to make them profitable.
He spoke about the pressures that indiscriminate subsidy schemes place on capital expenditure and long-term development.
Asked about the high salaries in the power utilities, a senior official of Telangana Power Generation Corporation (TGGenco) told