Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president and the party candidate from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency Y.S. Sharmila has criticised Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy for causing ‘deliberate inconvenience’ to senior citizens and physically-challenged people during the distribution of social security pensions.
“I wonder if the State government has set a target on causing deaths on the first of every month. The YSRCP is misusing IAS officers by putting the gun on their shoulders to target the common man. It seems the Chief Secretary is bent on proving that the public will continue to face similar troubles if they do not vote for the YSRCP,” said Ms. Sharmila while addressing a media here on May 3 (Friday).
She posed nine queries to the YSRCP government in response to the latter’s flagship ‘Navaratnalu’ scheme and demanded an explanation from the government for “harassing the employees” on various grounds.
“My father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy always stood by the employees. He had not only given them a pat for the work done but also given them suitable perks. However, the YSRCP government is treating the employees as slaves,” she alleged.
Referring to Minister Botcha Satyanarayana’s ‘intemperate’ remarks against the employees, Ms. Sharmila said this reflected the attitude of the powers-that-be.
“Nearly six lakh employees in the State are unhappy as their rights have been trampled and voices muzzled. The YSRCP regime has not done away with the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), paid TA and DA and kept medical bills worth ₹150 crore pending. In all, the government owes ₹22,000 crore to the employees, which was never heard of in the past,” she said.
Stating that the YSRCP government was not even considering the 12th PRC recommendations, Mr. Sharmila reiterated that only the ‘employee-friendly’ Congress would solve their issues and appealed to them to stand by her party during the elections.
