Telangana government has decided to disburse 2 dearness allowance (DA) arrears out of the 5 pending DAs to its employees. The government will release the first DA immediately, and the second will be released after 6 months. Addressing the media after the cabinet meeting, at the State Secretariat in Hyderabad late evening, Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka announced that the employees’ unions have accepted the proposal for deducting 500 rupees per month from each government employee for health coverage, and an equal amount will be borne by the state government. The system of health coverage will be administered by a trust headed by the chief secretary, with government officials and members of the employees’ unions being part of it. The Dy Chief Minister also assured that all the pending arrears for the government employees will be cleared with an amount not less than 700 crore rupees per month. He also assured that a medical invalidation committee will be formed, and a nursing directorate has been approved, as per the request of the employees’ unions. The government also announced that employees who were transferred away from their native districts during the 2023 Assembly elections will be repatriated. The major decision of the cabinet was to increase the retirement benefits of Anganwadi workers by 2 lakh rupees. The cabinet also decided to give 10 lakh rupees as a one-time settlement/ex-gratia to the members of the women’s self-help groups (SHG) in the event of their death by an accident. The cabinet noted that 380 SHG members died last year, for whom 380.5 crore has been sanctioned as ex-gratia. The cabinet has also approved naming the Kothagudem Earth Sciences University after former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. The state government has also approved 19,570 crore rupees for laying the Hyderabad Metro Rail line covering 86 km in three corridors. For this to happen, the cabinet decided to resend a proposal to the Centre, as a collaborative effort was needed to complete the phase 2 project.