Tirupati: Medical contract workers to step up agitation from Oct 20

Tirupati: The members of AP Medical Contract Workers Union working in SV Medical College have called for indefinite protests from October 20 against the attitude of the contract agency which has not paid the salaries for the past six months. Staging a dharna in front of SV Medical College (SVMC) on Saturday, AP Medical Contract Employees and Workers Union district general secretary K Radha Krishna said that 85 contract workers who were working at SVMC, were not getting their minimum wages as prescribed by the government.

The state government has issued a GO fixing the minimum salary as Rs 16,000 to each worker and after all deductions they have to get Rs 13,800 per month. But, the contract agency has been paying only Rs 7,200 a month denying the remaining Rs 6,600 to them. Even that amount was not being paid for the past six months due to which the workers have been facing severe hardship. After they staged a dharna on Saturday, some workers were paid Rs 5,000 each as against the arrears for six months, he said.

They tried to submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy during his recent visit to Tirupati but was prevented by the police. He said that the contract agency has been looting the workers by forcibly taking almost half of their monthly salaries.

Further, though the government announced to set up a Corporation for the contract employees, the officials were saying that the contract workers working as security guards and sweepers will not come under that.