AP Govt Employees On Warpath Again

Government employees of Andhra Pradesh are on the warpath again. Employees JAC-Amaravati chairman Bopparaju Venkateswarlu declared the action plan for their strike in protest against the government for not fulfilling their demands of regular payment of salaries and implementation of the 11th PRC, apart from many other monetary benefits.

Bopparaju said that since Feb 3, when the employees staged ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ seeking fulfilment of their demands, the government had not taken any steps to address their grievances. The CM had never spoken to the government employees since then. Jagan said that the employees should hold discussion with a Group of Ministers who only held chai-biscuit meetings but did not take any concrete decisions, the employee JAC leader said.

Venkateswarlu said that they had given Feb 26 deadline to the government to take decisions regarding the employees’ problems but there was no response till Feb 25.

Speaking about the action plan, he said that on March 8, the employees would wear black badges.

On March 13 and 14, the employees would stage lunch-hour demonstrations at the collectorates and RTO offices. All this is part of preparing the entire government staff for the strike, he said.

On March 15, 17 and 20, dharnas would be staged at all the district collectorates. From March 21, the government staff would observe work to rule which means they would be in the office from 10.30 am to 5 pm only.

On the same day, the staff would also stage ‘cell down’ for one day. As apps are being used for the entire functioning of various offices, cell phones would be switched off for the entire day to disrupt the functioning of the offices.

On March 24, the employees would stage dharnas at the HoD offices.

On March 27, the employee leaders would hit the road as part of Odarpu Yatra and condole the families of Covid victims. The CM ordered officials to provide jobs to the bereaved families but orders regarding the appointment of family members has not been issued so far, Bopparaju said, adding that they would try to give an assurance to the victims’ families that the employees would stand by them in their need.

On April 1, the employees would protest against the false promises made by the CM. Pensioners did not get their benefits to the full. “We would visit their families on that day. Some pensioners are getting minimum pensions but they were forced to switch to the CPS system. We would visit their families too,” Venkateswarlu said.

In the same breath, he said the employee leaders would also visit the families who are reeling under poverty and have failed to perform the marriages of their children drawing EPF loans.

On April 3, the employees would attend Praja Spandana programmes and submit a memorandum before the respective collectors seeking fulfilment of our demands.

On April 5, the employees state executive meeting will be held. If the government does not budge even by that time and fulfil our financial and non-financial benefits, the employee leaders will once again take a decision and then announce our plan of action, he said.

The employees had set many deadlines earlier but the government had not responded to their demands. The government is considering our patience and endurance as a weakness and treating us worthless, he lamented.

The employees held the government responsible for their agitation.

The presidents of the JAC in every district in the state expressed their consent for launch of the strike and hence, we have chalked out an action plan, he added.