Chandrababu Naidu Has Betrayed All Sectors Of Employees
Kondavelagadu, Vizianagaram district: Today, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of two great sons of India, Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri, I paid my homage to them. They will serve as a great source of inspiration for generations to come. Employees of the sanitation wing of Vizianagaram municipality met me today. Most of them happen to be Dalits and with great anguish, they told me that the government was determined to privatise their services and hand them over to a private contractor for kickbacks.
Thousands of these employees who depend on sanitation services would be rendered jobless, they lamented, with tears in their eyes. On the One the one hand, Chandrababu Naidu talks of Dalita Tejam and on the other, he spreads darkness in our lives, they lamented. “Isn’t this outright deception?” they questioned.
Women who worked for the midday meal scheme had a similar story to tell. They were being paid Rs.1000 and that too, once in four months. They complained that their bills were not being cleared and that they had to buy provisions, borrowing money. What is worse is that the government supplied rice of the most inferior variety and rotten eggs to these poor children. The same government which is responsible for the supply of such inferior raw material then blames the program for its poor quality and seeks to turn it over to private operators for kickbacks! What will be the fate of thousands of families whose livelihood depends on this program?
Contract lecturers working for the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) met me today. After completing their B.Tech and M.Tech courses, they started working and many of them had put in 10 years of service. Yet, they were being paid Rs.17,000. “Is this the significance the government attaches to our education and professional experience?” This was their question.
Emergency 108 services have turned sick and are on life support system. Staff belonging to these services met me and complained that it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to make both ends meet with very meagre salaries. To make matters worse, they were gripped by a sense of insecurity with respect to their jobs. “We’re not being paid our salaries, we are forced to work like bonded labourers and have seen no growth in spite of years of experience," they complained.
Representatives from the Association of second ANMs met me and told me that they had no security with respect to their jobs and that they were not being paid their salaries on time. The story was once again the same, as far as the treatment by the Chandrababu Naidu government goes—harassment and insufficient salaries. There wasn’t a single sector of employees which did not feel cheated by Chandrababu Naidu’s false promises. Similarly, partisan approach to political parties was evident everywhere.
The Chandrababu Naidu government functioned on discrimination between the ruling party and the opposition. This was clearly demonstrated to me by residents of the YSR Colony. They faced multiple challenges and because the colony was named after my father, Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy, those who lived here were treated as outcasts. They were forced to buy water in tankers and there was no sewage worth the name. The slightest drizzle turned it into a filthy stream. There was no street lights or streets, for that matter. Ward No. 25 faced a similar situation. It is represented by a YSRCP councillor which is the reason for the government’s discrimination. Welfare schemes were watered down and even those were being denied to these places.
Representatives of the Association of Sarpanches who met me described in detail the problems at the micro-level in the villages. Mamidi Appalanayudu, Ranga Rao and Roshi Reddy among others, told me about the harassment they faced at the hands of Janmabhoomi committee members. They described at length how local bodies and their authority was being undermined by them.”Is this the concept of Gram Swaraj envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi?" they wondered. They expressed their anguish at the existing state of affairs, as did the villagers of Kondavelagada, which had a special place. Though the village lacks basic amenities, it has produced weightlifting champions of international calibre. Three years ago, Chandrababu Naidu had promised to set up a weightlifting academy here. This was one more in his long list of unfulfilled promises, said the villagers.
I have a question for the chief minister—you had promised a job for every household and unemployment allowance in your election manifesto. Not only have you not fulfilled your promise, but are depriving thousands of families belonging to the mid-day meal scheme and sanitation workers, of their livelihood out of greed for kickbacks. Is this not true?
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