They served the strike notice in February demanding the clearance of several pending bills and also timely payment of monthly salaries.
Representatives of the Andhra Pradesh government employees' unions at a meeting with ministers on 7 March, 2023. (Supplied)
Government employees in Andhra Pradesh are on the warpath and are expected to launch phase-wise protests from Thursday, 9 March, if they don’t get assurances in writing.
They served the strike notice to the government in February demanding the clearance of several pending bills and also timely payment of monthly salaries.
In a last-ditch effort, the government-appointed empowered Group of Ministers (GoM) held talks on Tuesday with representatives of several employees unions and associations.
While the GoM assured them that the government would clear pending dues of ₹3,000 crore by this month’s end, the employees’ unions insisted on the assurance in written form by including them in the minutes of the meeting.
The GoM, comprising ministers Buggana Rajendranath, Botsa Satyanarayana, and Audimulapu Suresh, Government Advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, and Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy, met the employees’ leaders and discussed their issues on Tuesday.
On behalf of the unions, State Secretariat Employees Association President K Venkatrami Reddy, APNGO Association President Bandi Srinivasa Rao, and the APJAC’s Bopparaju Venkateswarlu were among those who participated in the talks with the GoM.
The employee unions have been demanding that the government allow them to withdraw Government Provident Fund (GPF), gratuity, leave encashment, medical bills, Dearness Allowance, and AP government Life Insurance (AGLI) scheme amounts.
Andhra Pradesh Joint Action Committee (APJAC) Amaravati chairman Bopparaju Venkateswarlu said on Wednesday, “We sought the assurances given by the government in the written form by including them in the minutes of the meeting. The chief secretary had given us the same assurances, but so far we haven’t received any minutes of the meeting.”
He added: “We will wait till Thursday afternoon at most. If we don’t receive the minutes and the assurances in written form, we will start the protest.”
Venkateswarlu also said: “The government holds such talks and gives assurances every time, but nothing happens. We are vexed and not ready to budge this time unless we are given written assurance. It’s been going on for the last three years and we are suffering a lot.”
As per the original plan of the unions, all employees will wear black badges and attend duties on 9 and 10 March as part of the protest.
On 13 and 14 March, they will hold protest meetings at the collector and RDO offices across the state during the lunch break.
On 15, 17, and 20 March, they are expected to organise massive dharnas at the offices of district collectors.
On 21 March, the employees will reportedly hold a cell-down protest and not attend or receive any calls.
On 24 March, they will hold dharnas at all the commissioners’ offices.
On 3 April, they are expected to go to the collectorate and hand over a memorandum listing their problems to collectors.
On 5 April, APJAC Amaravati will hold its state working group meeting to finalise its future course of action.
Government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy admitted that the employees were unhappy over the YSRCP government not going clearing several pending issues,
He said ₹3,000 crore would be released by March-end to meet some of the demands.
Interestingly, the government completely ignored Andhra Pradesh Government Employees Association while holding talks on clearing pending issues. The government didn’t invite its representatives.
The reason is that the government was irked with Andhra Pradesh Government Employees Association president KR Suryanarayana for leading a delegation to the Raj Bhawan in January seeking the governor’s interference in clearing their long-pending demands.
It was only in September last year that the government heaved a sigh of relief as it put forth the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
The employees blinked and withheld the Million March they had planned for 11 September.
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