Telangana sweepers earn Rs 2 lakh, drivers Rs 1 lakh a month; Chief Secratery says some govt workers earn more than IAS and Guv

Telangana’s monthly salary and pension bill has jumped four times in a decade to around Rs 6,000 crore, with long-serving sweepers earning up to Rs 2 lakh and drivers crossing Rs 1 lakh a month, chief secretary K Ramakrishna Rao said on Wednesday.

Rao told TOI said the state spent about Rs 1,500 crore a month on salaries and pensions when Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. Since then, successive pay revisions have pushed the outgo up by nearly 300%, sharply increasing the state’s fixed expenditure.

He was speaking at a conference on the recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission organised by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies.


A striking outcome of these revisions, he said, is that some public-sector employees now earn more than IAS officers and even the governor. Salaries in power utilities, where revisions take place once every four years, are among the highest.

From entry-level staff to top engineers

The pay rise spans across ranks. Entry-level municipal staff earn about Rs 28,000 a month. Drivers and sanitation workers with around 30 years of service can draw more than Rs 1 lakh monthly, with some sweepers earning up to Rs 2 lakh.

In the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, about 2% of sanitation workers have been regularised, making them eligible for roughly Rs 70,000 a month plus benefits on average.

At the top end, chief engineers in the power sector draw salaries that can go up to Rs 7 lakh per month.

How the pay hikes are decided

Salary revisions are decided through government-appointed pay revision commissions. These bodies apply a “fitment” percentage, an increase on basic pay plus dearness allowance, which lifts the entire pay structure across employee categories.

Successive revisions, often aligned with election cycles, have been a key factor behind the rapid growth in the wage bill.

Govt jobs now a high-stakes prize

The higher pay has intensified the race for government jobs. Rao said around 799 candidates competed for each of the 563 Group-1 posts advertised recently.

The demand has also fuelled a thriving coaching industry, with aspirants preparing for years to secure a government position.

Strong growth helps foot the bill

Despite the rising salary burden, Telangana has been able to sustain the expenditure on the back of strong economic performance. The state has recorded roughly 11% growth and a steady rise in revenue sources, Rao said.

“We have created robust digital infrastructure for subsidies. We distributed Rs 7,000 crore under Rythu Bandhu, with only a 6% error rate in this process,” he said.

Where the money goes

In the first 10 years since its formation, Telangana spent about Rs 15 lakh crore in total. Of this, nearly Rs 12 lakh crore went towards salaries, pensions and debt repayment, while only about Rs 3 lakh crore was used for capital expenditure.

Asset sales brought in just about Rs 15,000 crore, showing how heavily the state depends on regular revenues to meet its commitments.