BJP Blames State Government's Inaction For Municipal Workers

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday slammed the state government for its failure to prevent the strike by municipal employees.

In a letter to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, BJP national vice-president Bandaru Dattatreyya said that the strike by civic workers in AP has turned all the cities and towns into heaps of garbage with stinking smell.

"The city of Hyderabad, known for being clean and green, is now full of ugly surroundings, and an all pervading foul smell," he said.

Dattatreyya said that almost all trade unions including the contract workers' union have given a strike call, pressing for their long pending demands.

GHMC contract workers including the sanitation and garbage vehicle drivers are demanding a minimum pay of Rs. 12,500 per month and a DA on par with the other employees.

The other demands included a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh to the families of workers' who die on duty, and new garbage picking vehicles in place of condemned ones.

The BJP leader alleged that though the unions served the strike notice about 20 days ago, the authorities did not take any measures to resolve the issues, and settle the genuine demands of the workers.

No attempt was made to clear the apprehensions of the workers, Bandaru said.

Over 70,000 contract workers and outsources employees in 167 municipalities and 19 municipal corporations in the state are agitating for their just and genuine demands, he added.

Bandaru said that if 2 days of strike by civic workers has resulted in such a big mess, one could imagine the gravity of the situation if the strike were to continue for few more days.

"Since a political decision is needed in this issue, negotiations should be held at the the Chief Minister level," he said.

"The government should not behave like a private employer, but should behave like an ideal employer and abolish contract labour in all the municipalities and corporations by regularising all the contract labours," he opined. (INN)