Visakhapatnam: BJP, JSP allege issuance of ‘secret orders’ for termination of outsourcing employees

The identification of employees, who have put in less than 10 years of service, has begun, alleges MLC

The alleged issuance of ‘secret orders’ by the State government directing the officials to terminate the services of ‘outsourcing employees’, who have put in less than 10 years of service, has drawn flak from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jana Sena Party (JSP).

BJP MLC P.V. N. Madhav said in a statement that the State government issued the orders to all departments on November 28 itself but came to light only after the officials have begun exercise for implementation of the orders. He noted those outsourcing workers, whose service was below 10 years, were in deep distress from Saturday on the issue.

These workers, who were hoping that their jobs would be regularised on one day or the other, were worried about their future. Mr. Madhav recalled that Mr. Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had promised before the general election that he would do justice to the ‘outsourcing workers’, if the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) was elected to power. He explained that four categories of outsourcing workers would be affected by the orders. They include: Data Entry Operators, Junior Assistants, Typists and Attenders. The identification of employees, who have put in less than 10 years of service, has begun. The services of those who had put in one day less than 10 years would also be terminated, he said.

He said that post-bifurcation of the State, between 2014 and 2019 a total of 90,000 outsourcing employees were recruited by the previous government. They were being paid meagre salaries ranging between ₹16,000 and ₹23,000. A majority of these employees belong to SC, ST, BC and Minority communities.

Meanwhile, contract workers and unemployed persons staged a protest, under the leadership of JSP Corporator Peethala Murthy Yadav at the Telugu Thalli statue at Maddilapalem on Tuesday. The workers displayed placards denouncing the move of the State government.

Mr. Peethala Murthy deplored the move of the State government in bringing out a ‘secret G.O.’ to terminate the services of outsourcing employees. He said it was unjust to terminate 2.40 lakh outsourcing employees. He said that the Jaganmohan Reddy government, which came to power on the promise of providing a better deal to contract workers and to release the ‘job calendar’ in January every year, has reneged on its promise.

He alleged that jobless youths felt cheated by the YSR Congress Party government as instead of filling the vacant posts during the last three years, it has raised the retirement age from 60 to 62 years, causing further injustice to them.