Anakapalli Panchayat Workers Sweep Roads in Wage Protest Action
The workers’ leaders warned that they would intensify their agitation and stop work if the pending wages were not cleared immediately.
Visakhapatnam: The Anakapalli district witnessed a rare demonstration on Monday when village panchayat workers, demanding payment of long-pending wages, swept roads outside the Rolugunta mandal office in a symbolic protest.
Organised under the banner of the Panchayat workers’ union affiliated to CITU, the workers highlighted the non-payment of salaries to them for months and the hardships faced by the sanitation staff across several gram panchayats.
The workers later submitted a memorandum to the authorities, noting that wages had not been released to lower-grade workers for 3 to 8 months across several panchayats. This had caused severe financial strain on their families.
The protesters also demanded implementation of a government circular issued last year, which promised a monthly health allowance of Rs 4,000 to village sanitation workers or the green ambassadors. They alleged that this benefit had not been extended to the workers in several panchayats. In addition, they sought uniforms, towels, footwear, coconut oil and gloves as part of basic work-related facilities.
CITU district general secretary R Shankara Rao and district secretary K Govinda Rao said sanitation workers continued to maintain cleanliness in villages despite receiving meagre wages. They pleaded with the authorities to ensure regular payment of salaries and implement the health allowance without delay.
The union leaders demanded that panchayats mobilise adequate funds to meet their wage and welfare obligations, pointing out that a laxity in collecting property tax dues from government buildings had weakened the financial position of local bodies.
The workers’ leaders warned that they would intensify their agitation and stop work if the pending wages were not cleared immediately.
The Vyavasaya Karmika Sangham district executive committee member K Govinda Rao, KVPC district secretary E Chiranjivi and union leaders Arjun, Srinivasa Rao, Raju, and Sattibabu participated in the protest.