For many Telangana sweepers ₹2 lakh is annual salary

The comment by the chief secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao about senior sweepers in the power distribution companies reportedly earning ₹2 lakh as monthly salary has quickly gained traction across multiple platforms, earning shock reactions from people.

On several platforms, the screaming headlines about ‘Telangana sweepers’ earning ₹2 lakh led to misplaced assumptions that all government sweepers are heftily paid.

Data from the budgetary allocations reveal that the assumption couldn’t be far from the truth. The pay scale of a government sweeper ranges between ₹19,000 and ₹58,500 across various departments, and including allowances and other perks, it could reach up to ₹1 lakh.

However, majority departments have shifted to the practice of outsourcing the jobs involving unskilled labour such as sweepers, which has diminished the number of sweepers across the board.

For instance, in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, which has the maximum workforce of sweepers or sanitation workers, their number on actual GHMC’s rolls does not exceed around 900. A total 18,357 sanitation workers are hired through outsourcing agencies, with a salary of about ₹18,000 per month. In hand, they get ₹3,000 less after provident fund and ESI contribution, and this figure has not changed for several years now. With gig jobs offering more than this, not many workers are now interested in being a municipal sweeper now, which is affecting the city’s sanitation.

“In the whole GHMC, only 3,600 employees are working on regular basis across departments, and they include jobs like bill collectors and tax inspectors too. The salary of a regular sanitation worker could go up to a maximum of ₹70,000-80,000 at the time of retirement,” said Udhari Gopal, president of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Employees Union.

GHMC officials informed that the maximum salary drawn by a sanitation worker on regular employment is around ₹96,000-1,02,000 by the time she or he retires. Mr. Gopal says the workers could see the six digit salary only if they are promoted as Sanitary Jawans.

While Mr. Ramakrishna Rao also spoke about chief engineers in the power discom being paid up to ₹7 lakh, not many are surprised about that.

In either case, the salaries of sweepers and engineers in the power utilities are not paid from the government coffers. The Electricity Board underwent reforms long before the State bifurcation, and got divided into power generation, transmission and distribution companies. They function as independent public sector entities when it comes to revenue generation and expenditure, and hence salaries of the employees are paid from the revenues of the respective companies.

In case of GHMC too, the salaries of outsourced personnel are paid by the corporation from its general funds. They are not drawn from the public exchequer.