In a bid to combat coronavirus crisis and provide relief to people infected by it, the Telangana government on Monday decided to deduct salaries of Ministers, MLAs and MLCs. The Chief Minister will also take a significant pay cut.

The decision to cut salaries of Ministers, MLAs and MLCs was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekara Rao and his Cabinet colleagues. The government has decided to cut the salary of the Chief Minister, Ministers, MLAs and MLCs by 75 per cent. Similarly, the high-level meeting also decided to cut the salaries of IAS, IPS and IFS officers by 60 per cent due to loss of revenue to the government in the light of the complete lockdown declared to contain the spread of corona virus. Further, the government has decided to cut the pension of all retired employees by 50 per cent,

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the Telangana government had lost around Rs 12,000 crore revenue so far this month due to the complete lockdown declared to contain the spread of corona virus. The Telangana government, like most other state governments, accrues revenues from GST, VAT, excise revenue. Ever since the government declared the lockdown on March 15, revenue generation declined significantly with the closure of business establishments, stoppage of vehicle registration and property registrations and zero revenues from excise department. Each month, the government requires at least Rs 3,000 crore to pay salaries and pensions.

TRS MPs and MLAs have contributed Rs 500 crore to the CM’s Relief Fund to help the government fight the coronavirus outbreak. Telangana has so far reported 72 Covid-19 cases. Besides, one-month salary, they contributed one year’s constituency development fund to the CM Relief Fund. The total amount is estimated to be Rs 500 crore.