PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao on Sunday held Lt Governor Kiran Bedi responsible for Swachha Bharat scheme coming to a grinding halt in Yanam from July 1.
The garbage has remained piled up for five days now, as the Yanam People’s voluntary service agency which was entrusted with the sanitation work stopped work due to nonpayment of wages.
The Health Minister who is from Yanam said that the sanitary workers have not been paid for the past five to six months as the files for the same has not been approved by the Lt Governor.
The minister who has been at loggerheads with Lt Governor alleged that Bedi was adopting a discriminatory policy for Yanam, citing that the bills of Swachata Corporation which are doing sanitation work in Puducherry is being cleared every month out of interest from the LG. He said that Bedi had also targeted fishermen by coming in the way of implementation of their welfare scheme.
Though tenders were floated to appoint an agency to take up sanitation work in Yanam, due to lack of response, the regional administration asked Yanam people’s voluntary service to continue doing the sanitization work. Malladi Krishna Rao said that during the last four years, they have been receiving payments very intermittently. Now the Voluntary organization citing non-payment of salary and no increase in wages have stopped work. Rao said that Swachata Corporation which has been engaged for sanitation in Puducherry also could be given the task in Yanam.
At a time of COVID pandemic, if the cleaning work is not resumed and Kiran Bedi does not cooperate, there would be a possibility of Yanam witnessing several health issues for which she has to shoulder responsibility. The central government had already given instructions that during the current COVID-19 situation, wages should not be denied to any workers, as it would affect the source of livelihood of the poor.
He said he would write a letter to the Prime Minister, Home Minister and Home Secretary stating that Bedi has allegedly been derailing the sanitation scheme, welfare and development of Yanam.
He appealed to the Chief Minister to introduce a total lockdown in the Union Territory every Sunday, as people were crowding fish markets and meat stalls without adhering to social distancing norms.