OU Contract Staff Protest for Fair Pay After Decades of Service
Hyderabad: Over 150 contract non-teaching employees of Osmania University (OU) staged a protest march from the Arts College to the administration building on Thursday, demanding implementation of time-scale pay on par with regular employees. They pointed out that around 1,150 contract staff have been working for 20 to 30 years, performing duties equal to those of permanent employees but without fair pay or service benefits.
Talking to Deccan Chronicle, Osmania University Non-Teaching Contract Employees Association president Adla Anjaiah said, “We have been fighting for justice for almost ten years, since the formation of Telangana. But nothing has happened.” He appealed to the Congress government to address their long-pending demand and implement a time-scale pay structure without further delay.
Association vice-president G. Ravi Reddy said that during the 2014 elections, BRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao had promised to regularise contract employees. “But that promise was never fulfilled. Despite having the required qualifications, we continue to be denied regularisation,” he said. He added that the employees had given up hope of being regularised but were now appealing for implementation of the pay scale applicable to regular staff.
Another employee, Dr Veeresh, echoed the same demand, urging the state government and university authorities to grant them time-scale status to help them meet their essential needs. Guntuka Somakka, a civic worker, said they had been working on contract for over two decades without any salary hike in the past four years. “Since the formation of Telangana, we have been suffering due to inadequate pay,” she added.
