Workers stage protests after Vijayawada Municipal Corporation faces a cash crunch

Vijayawada: It is a situation that no one - the citizens, the civic body, or the municipal staff - wants but it is something that cannot be helped.

Anger among the people over unclean roads, clogged drains and irregular water supply is growing, even as around 6,000 contract workers of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation maintain that they too do not want the people to complain, but are helpless.

The contract workers say that the only way to get the government release their salaries, unpaid since the past three months, is to stop working and provoke the citizens to protest.

Most of these contract workers belong to sanitation, malaria, parks, vehicle depot and water supply departments.

Among these, helpers, mechanics, sweepers and members of the DWACWA and CMEY groups maintain the city’s basic amenities. The VMC pays them Rs 6,700 per month but this paltry amount too has been stopped since the past three months ago.

The reason behind the stoppage of salaries is that the VMC is facing an acute cash crunch, so much so that it is simply unable to pay its staff.

The ripple effect of VMC’s financial woes is being felt by the citizens, particularly those living in Zone-III, as the sanitation staff is not working properly, with some employees skipping duties.

According to residents of Patamata, the clogged drains pique them the most. V. Subba Reddy, a government homoeopath who lives at NTR Circle said that despite several complaints, the drains remained uncapped and clogged.

On their part, the contract workers have been staging protests in front of local offices of the corporation.

Municipal Corporation Contract Employees Association president M. David said that they have brought their plight to the notice of the VMC commissioner.

He promised an all-out effort by the contract workers to beautify the city, if only their salaries were paid on time, and as per GO 010.