VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Municipal Employees’ Union has called for an indefinite strike from September 15, demanding the State government to scrap a government order (GO) for handing over sanitation work in municipalities and urban local bodies (ULBs) to private parties. On Tuesday, the union staged ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ protest by taking out a rally from the railway station to Dharna Chowk which later culminated in a meeting.
Addressing the gathering, Municipal Corporation Employees Union state secretary M David said that despite several protests staged by the union, the VMC had unilaterally passed a resolution in the council meeting to invite open tenders for sanitation maintenance in the city. The government order would eventually lead to the displacement of workers,Not learning any lesson from the episode of Mumbai private firm BVG India Limited, the VMC once again blindly endorsed sanitation maintenance in the city to private consultants. On a pilot basis, the private consultant had monitored sanitation on Mahatma Gandhi Road, Eluru Road and the national highway between Ramavarappadu to Benz circle from January to March.
BVG had duped 120 sanitation workers without paying their wages of `8,000 per month till date. “The contractors will cut down manpower and utilise limited a workforce, to save money. They would also not pay the workers as per norms. Big corporates will only exploit the workers,” David said.The union’s president K Umamaheswara Rao alleged that VMC was keen on terminating the services of DWCRA groups and hand over sanitation contracts to its own party leaders. Majority of the sanitation workers in the civic body hail from weaker sections and the government order would affect their livelihood. Several pleas were made to Minister for Municipal Administration P Narayana to scrap the government order but to no avail.