The monthly amount that the Telangana government spends on paying its employees and pensioners has increased sharply over the past ten years, rising to about ₹6,000 crore a month, according to chief secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao. This figure is nearly four times higher than what it was in 2014, when Telangana became a separate state.

Rao shared these details on Wednesday while speaking at a conference organised by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies on the recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission. He said that when Telangana was formed after being separated from Andhra Pradesh, the state’s total monthly salary and pension bill was around ₹1,500 crore. Since then, that figure has grown to ₹6,000 crore due to regular pay increases and revisions.

The chief secretary explained that this large increase happened mainly because of successive pay revisions. These revisions have often coincided with election cycles, and this has significantly increased the government’s fixed expenditure on salaries and pensions.

One surprising result of these revisions is that some government salaries are now higher than what senior officers like Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officials or even the Governor receive.

Rao highlighted the wide range of monthly salaries being paid to government employees in the state — from municipal workers to top engineers:

• Entry-level municipal staff receive about ₹28,000 per month.
• Drivers or sanitation workers with around 30 years of service can earn over ₹1 lakh per month.
• Senior Class-4 employees, such as sweepers, are reported to earn around ₹2 lakh per month.
• In state power utilities, chief engineers can receive a salary of up to ₹7 lakh per month.

According to the chief secretary, the reason salaries in power utilities are comparatively high is because pay revisions there happen once every four years.

Rao pointed out that the salary amounts are determined through government-appointed pay revision commissions. These commissions decide increases based on a “fitment” percentage, which is applied to both the basic pay and dearness allowance. As a result, salaries across different ranks have increased significantly over time.

The chief secretary also said that higher salaries have made government jobs even more attractive. He noted that in a recent recruitment drive for Group-1 positions, about 799 candidates applied for each of the 563 posts that were advertised. This shows strong competition for government jobs across categories.

Despite the rise in the wage bill, Telangana has been able to manage these payments because of its strong economic performance. Rao said that the state has maintained roughly 11% economic growth and steadily increased its revenue sources.

He also mentioned that the government has created digital systems to deliver subsidies more efficiently. “We distributed ₹7,000 crore under Rythu Bandhu, with only a 6% error rate in this process,” he said, highlighting the state’s efforts to implement welfare programmes effectively.

The chief secretary shared data about the state’s total spending since Telangana was formed in 2014:

• In the first ten years, the state has spent about ₹15 lakh crore in total.
• Of this, nearly ₹12 lakh crore went towards salaries, pensions, and debt repayment.
• Only about ₹3 lakh crore was used for other expenses like capital expenditure.
• Revenue from asset sales amounted to just about ₹15,000 crore.

The figures shared by the chief secretary show that the cost of running the government in Telangana has increased substantially, especially in terms of salaries and pension payments. These rising costs take up a large portion of the state’s monthly spending, which can affect how much money is left for development projects and other public services. Yet, strong economic growth and rising revenue have helped the government honour its commitments to employees and pensioners.