VISAKHAPATNAM : Tense situation prevailed at the Collectorates in north Coastal Andhra districts Friday as the municipal staff staged massive protests demanding consideration of their long-pending issues at the earliest. With no response from the government even after two weeks of their strike, vexed agitators tried to barge into the Collectorates in Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam, leading to heated arguments with the police who found it hard to disperse them.
Supported by CPM and other Opposition parties, the GVMC staff in large numbers staged a protest at the Collectorate here. The agitators demanded fulfillment of their demands at the earliest. The situation went out of control when some agitators tried to enter the Collectorate from the gate. Police had to intervene to stop the protestors and disperse them.
CPM leader Ch Narsinga Rao said that the workers had taken to the agitational path after their repeated requests to the government went unheeded. Even after two weeks, the government did not even take any initiative to consider their demands. Narsinga Rao also said that the workers were not able to meet both their ends with the present salaries. Some of the YSRC leaders who backed the agitation said that solving the problems of the workers was the duty of the government and warned of taking the protest to the next level.
In Srikakulam, municipal workers dumped garbage in front of the Municipal Office as part of the protest. The agitators also staged a protest at the Collectorate raising slogans against the government. State Labour minister K Atchannaidu who came to the collector’s meeting tried to convince the protestors and broker peace. But the protestors continued their dharna and vowed to continue till the government meet their demands.
Vizianagaram district too witnessed agitations. The workers gathered in large numbers at the municipal offices at Parvathipuram, Bobbili, Saluru and the Collectorate in Vizianagaram.