Hyderabad: The state Cabinet has on Thursday approved the long-pending demands of the government employees which included the release of two instalments of dearness allowance (DA) this year. It also decided to expedite the construction of rural roads under HAM (hybrid annuity model) and the expansion of the Metro Rail in the greater Hyderabad limits.

During the six-hour-long Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and his Cabinet colleagues discussed extensively the employees' demands and took a slew of decisions.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said the government would release one DA amount immediately to the government staff and another one would be released after six months due to financial constraints. The demand for the creation of a trust to provide medical care to all the employees with equal contribution of insurance amount by the employees and the government was accepted. The Chief Secretary will be the chairman of the healthcare trust.

The Cabinet also decided to pay the pending bills, including the benefit to the retired employees.

As much as Rs 700 crore will be spent on the release of pending bills every month. Ban on recruitment of retired employees on a contract basis, fast clearance of the compassionate appointments, grading the posts of the Panchayat secretaries, establishment of nursing directorate, Rs 2 lakh retirement benefits to the Anganwadi workers and clearing all pending hired vehicle bills were among other decisions that were taken in the Cabinet meeting.

To improve the connectivity for public transportation, Information and Public Relations Minister P Srinivasa Reddy said that the Cabinet approved new metro line corridors mainly- Shamshabad to Future City (39 km), Jubilee Bus Station- Medchal (25 Km) and Jubilee Bus Station to Shamirpet (22 km). The estimated cost of the new metro line networks for 86 km was Rs 19,579 crore and it would be taken up jointly by the state and Union governments, the minister said, adding that the BJP MPs and Union ministers should also pursue the issue with the Centre and get approvals without any delay.

The Cabinet ratified the development of R & B roads and Panchayat Raj roads under the HAM model. The R & B will develop a 5,100 km road network and the Panchayat Raj will improve the road network on a 7,900-km stretch. All the proposed road development projects will be completed in two years and the agency, which will take up the roads, will be entrusted with the responsibility of maintenance of the roads for 15 years. The Earth Science University in Kothagudem district would be named after former prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the minister said, adding that the Cabinet decided to pay an insurance amount of Rs 10 lakh to the members of self-help groups in case of deaths.