The Andhra Pradesh government has announced the revival of an additional pension benefit for nearly four lakh pensioners, with implementation scheduled for January 2027, including increased pension quantum for seniors and a broader relief package for state employees and retirees.
Andhra Pradesh’s decision to revive an additional pension benefit discontinued in 2022 will affect about four lakh pensioners, according to A. Vidyasagar, the state president of the APNGOs Association and chairman of AP JAC. Speaking at a meeting of the State Government Pensioners Association in Guntur, Vidyasagar said pensioners had waited nearly four years for the restoration.
The benefit is to return from January 1, 2027, with an extra 10 per cent pension quantum for those aged 70 and 15 per cent for those aged 75, following talks with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on September 5. The restoration is part of a wider package of measures for state employees and retirees that Naidu has announced in recent months.
According to reporting by Mint and other Indian finance outlets, the package also includes the release of two pending dearness allowance instalments, the setting up of the 12th Pay Revision Commission and a timetable for paying long-delayed arrears. Those reports said the overall relief package could cost the state about ₹2,880 crore a year.
Vidyasagar said the union’s immediate focus would be on securing formal government orders and tracking implementation of the promise. He also said APNGOs and AP JAC would continue pressing for notional increments for village and ward secretariat staff, while also seeking solutions for contract and outsourced employees.
He added that the government’s move to credit employees’ contributions and the matching state grant directly to the Health Trust on the first day of each month would ease a major funding pressure. But he said more still needed to be done, including higher hospital package rates and increased medical reimbursement limits.
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