HYDERABAD: On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao decided to enhance the honorarium of the Mahila Sangham Sahayakulu, also known as Village Organisation Assistants (VOAs), to Rs 8,000 per month from the existing Rs 5,900 on Thursday. A GO to this effect was issued later.
The government’s decision is set to benefit 17,608 VOAs in the State. The enhanced honorarium will be paid from September. This decision is estimated to have an additional burden of Rs 106 crore on the exchequer per year.
Earlier, Finance Minister T Harish Rao, along with Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy and Women and Child Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod held a meeting with VOA representatives. The ministers handed over to the CM a copy of the order to the representatives of the women’s associations.
Rao also responded positively to the request of VOAs to implement life insurance schemes for them. He directed the Panchayat Raj minister to study the relevant regulations and submit a report. The CM decided to allocate Rs 2 crore for uniforms for VOAs every year.
He also decided to enforce the job renewal policy once every year instead of three months for VOAs. In the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh, VOAs extended their services voluntarily to the Self Help Groups (SHGs) in financial aspects and compiling data. They were given a paltry sum of Rs 2,000 as an honorarium.
After the formation of the State, Rao recognised the services of VOAs to the society and started giving Rs 3,000 monthly as an honorarium from 2016. The government also applied the Pay Revision Commission (PRC) to the VOAs and enhanced their honorarium to Rs 3,900 on humanitarian grounds. With this, the VOAs have been receiving Rs 5,900 which includes Rs 2,000 from the SHGs.