Telangana doctors warn of protests over long-pending pay and allowance demands

Hyderabad: With their long-pending demands still unmet, the Telangana Teaching Government Doctors Association (TTGDA) has warned of intensified protests if the state government fails to act soon.

The association said it is considering holding daylong protests in government hospitals across Telangana, with an official announcement to be made shortly. During a general body meeting on Thursday, TTGDA members discussed several service and pay-related issues that they said have remained unresolved for years.

The primary demand raised by the doctors is the introduction of a peripheral medical college allowance for faculty working in government medical colleges located outside Hyderabad. According to TTGDA, the allowance should be in line with the Rural Service Allowance recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

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"The current tribal-area grading system is inadequate and does not reflect ground realities; for instance, remote colleges in Asifabad and Bhupalpally are excluded under the present classification," they said.

Another major concern is the unequal treatment in service benefits. While earned leave (EL) encashment has been extended to faculty at Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), the same facility is not available to teaching doctors in government medical colleges, the association pointed out.

Recently, NIMS employees received approval for annual EL encashment following a state government order, which means that they can now surrender ELs for cash benefits, just like other state government staff, under the TG Leave Rules, 1933.

The association also demanded a special transfer policy, stating that the recent counselling process failed to provide relief even to senior faculty members who have completed over nine years of service.

The TTGDA expressed dissatisfaction with the existing UGC pay scales, as teaching doctors are neither governed fully by State service rules nor granted complete UGC norms and benefits.

Speaking to Telangana Today, the TTGDA said, "There is widespread anxiety regarding retirement benefits. The members of TTGDA requested direct credit of GPF/CPS contributions to employees, enabling transparency and personal financial control and demanded that UGC/DA arrears be paid immediately."

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