Municipal workers stage protest in Visakhapatnam seeking regularisation of services

Municipal workers in Viakhapatnam stage protest for regularisation of services

The struggles by municipal workers will continue till the YSR Congress Party government regularise the services of contract and outsourcing staff, and arrest of the demonstrators by the police cannot stop their agitations, CITU State secretary R.K.S.V. Kumar has said.

The AP Municipal Workers and Employees Federation, affiliated to the CITU, had given a call for picketing of Collectorates in all districts as part of the State-wide protests on Monday. As part of the protest, municipal workers had planned to take out a rally from the Saraswathi Park to the Collectorate.

The police officials declined to give permission and suggested that they stage a protest at the Gandhi statue. The CITU leaders alleged that while holding talks with them, the police had placed the union leaders under house arrest and even threatened to book cases on them.

Union district president T. Nookaraju said that the workers were only seeking implementation of the election promise made by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Union honorary president P. Venkata Reddy said that without the municipal workers, the city would smell of stink. The police and municipal authorities would know of their difficulties, when they see the work being done by them for two days.

The leaders and workers decided to shift their agitation to the Collectorate, following which the police dragged them into waiting vehicles and shifted them to police stations.

The union leaders said that around 200 leaders and workers were whisked away by the police. The arrested union leaders included R.K.S.V. Kumar, P. Venkata Reddy, V. Raju, T. Nookaraju, MV Prasada Rao, Ramana, Kumari, Varalakshmi and J.R. Naidu.

The demands of the workers include regularisation of services, payment of ₹18,500 as salary to CLAP vehicle drivers, payment of risk and health allowance to workers, implementation of G.O. no. 7 and implementation of the ‘minutes’ issued by the GVMC officials on July 17.