VIJAYAWADA: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) Andhra Pradesh Committee has appealed to Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu to extend the ‘Talliki Vandanam’ scheme to low-income contract, outsourcing, and sanitation workers earning less than Rs 25,000 per month.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, CPM state secretary V Srinivasa Rao criticised the exclusion of these workers from the scheme despite promising to cover all individuals with monthly incomes below Rs 25,000 before elections.
The letter noted that, marking one year since the coalition government’s formation, the Talliki Vandanam scheme has credited Rs 13,000 to the accounts of many eligible mothers.
However, sanitation workers, promised inclusion in the scheme’s guidelines, are being denied benefits due to technical issues with the application process, he added.
Additionally, contract and outsourcing employees, scheme workers, municipal workers, and others classified as government employees have been excluded, despite many earning as little as Rs 10,000 or less per month.
The CPM leader also urged the TDP-led NDA government to remove this criterion and include all individuals earning less than Rs 20,000 in rural and Rs 25,000 in urban areas under the scheme.