AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's Principal Secretary Praveen Prakash set an example by declining to draw his salary on the first of every month and asking the official concerned to release it only after all contract and outsourced class 3 and 4 employees are fully paid their salaries.

Three IAS officers joined him on Monday in seeking to carry forward the initiative.
In a letter to the General Administration Department, he said it looked very odd that Class 1 and 2 officers, who are generally permanent state government employees, get salaries on the first of every month,while contract/outsourced workers, who are from Class 3 and 4 categories, get their salaries only in the second or third week or even later.

Incidentally, Praveen also holds full additional charge as GAD Principal Secretary (Political).
"The basic human needs are very similar and the general level of savings of Class 3 and 4 employees are lesser than that of Class 1 and 2 employees.

So the necessity to pay Class 3 and 4 employees in the first week of the month is higher than Class 1 and 2 officers, who can afford some delay in payment of salary,"the 1994 batch IAS officer noted.

Praveen accordingly asked the drawing and disbursing officer to pay his salary only after he gave a self-declaration that all class 3 and 4 employees in the GAD (Political) Department were paid their salaries.

Appreciating Praveen's initiative, 2006 batch IAS officer Pravin Kumar, 2013 batch officer S Shan Mohan and 2016 batch officer S Venkateswar also volunteered to draw their salaries only after the class 3 and 4 employees in their departments were paid their salaries in full.

Kumar is CEO of the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority, Mohan is Joint Collector of Prakasam district, while S Venkateswar is sub-collector of Paderu. (PTI)

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