KAKINADA : Demanding job security, MeeSeva operators in East Godavari continued with their hunger strike on Friday. The operators from across the State have been organising protests for a week with similar demands, resulting in work at most of the centres coming to a halt.
In the district, the operators had given a strike notice to Joint Collector G Laksmisha on December 19 and began the protest from the next day. The protest has also found support from the BJP and Left parties.
The employees argued that the State government was damaging MeeSeva service by introducing village and ward secretariats.
They fear that the secretariat system will cost them their jobs as people would not require to physically go to the centres. With the indefinite strike called by them, the people are facing hardships to download caste and nativity certificates, pay power and water bills and apply for passports among other services. The State has a total of 11,047 MeeSeva centres, but only 879 have been functioning since the protests began.