Over 8,000 municipal and engineering department workers on contract participated in demonstrations across the State on the first day of their indefinite protest on Tuesday (December 26).
Launching the statewide protest at Dharna Chowk in Vijayawada, A.P. Municipal Workers and Employees’ Federation general secretary K. Umamaheswara Rao said their main demands included regularisation of services, a salary of ₹18,500 to Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP) vehicle drivers and welfare benefits to all workers.
He said the demonstrations, being organised jointly by the labour unions of CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(ML) parties, were held in 105 out 123 municipalities in the State. “Many contract workers staged novel protests using broom sticks,” he said, adding that all the waste, accumulated in the past two days due to festival holiday and Sunday, were lying on roads.
Mr. Umamaheswara Rao said the workers were forced to take up an indefinite protest because the YSRCP government failed to address their concerns. “Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had promised to make our jobs permanent within six months of coming to power. Now, it is time for elections again and we are still here, fighting for the same cause. In the past four years, the government, in the name of discussions, only delayed addressing our issues,” he said, adding that the protest would continue until the government resolves their issues.
CPI(M) leader Ch. Babu Rao said it was shameful that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who heaped praise on the workers during the pandemic, was silent when they were making just demands.
Mr. Umamaheswara Rao said the protest was successful in all districts, with workers taking huge rallies in Anantapur and Visakhapatnam.
