Khammam: TUCI demands gram panchayat workers’ pending wages to be cleared

Telangana gram panchayat workers staged a dharna in Khammam demanding payment of four months’ pending salaries and a minimum wage of Rs.26,000. Union leaders accused the Congress government of neglecting their plight during the festive season and warned of statewide protests

Khammam: Telangana Pragathisheela Gram Panchayat Workers’ Union leaders have demanded that the State government clear the pending salaries of gram panchayat workers, which have not been paid for the past four months.

The TUCI-affiliated union members and leaders staged a dharna at the Khammam Collector’s office and submitted a memorandum to Additional Collector Srinivas Reddy during the grievance cell meeting on Monday. Speaking on the occasion, the union district president Amarlapudi Appa Rao and district secretary P. Ramadas said the families of the workers were left penniless even during the festival season and were facing severe financial difficulties due to the non-payment of wages. Many workers have incurred debts to meet family needs and some were resorting to suicide as they were unable to repay the loans, they added.

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TUCI district secretary G Ramaiah said Dasara was a major festival in Telangana, but gram panchayat workers were left to starve due to lack of money. He alleged that the Revanth Reddy government was discriminating against the workers and treating them badly.

It was shameful that the Congress government, which boasts of Indiramma Rajyam and Praja Palana, was neglecting gram panchayat workers. If all workers were not regularised and a minimum wage of Rs.26,000 was not paid, the government would face their wrath in the coming days, he warned.