Velugu VOAs, RPs continue protests in Ongole

Ongole: The resource persons under Andhra Pradesh Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (AP MEPMA) and Village Organization Assistants in DRDA Velugu in Prakasam district dared the chilly night with mosquitoes and dust in front of the district collectorate in continuation of their protest demanding the salary hikes and address of other issues.

Hundreds of the VOAs and RPs gathered in front of the district collectorate on Monday and continued their protest for two days, up to Tuesday. They spent the night on the mats in the protesting place expecting the officials would come for rescue and lend an ear to their problems. The police tried to vacate them before the ministers Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose and Ch Sriranganatha Raju reach collectorate for a review meeting but failed.

The RPs district president N Rahelu and VOAs district president TP Lakshmi said that the government has announced to hike their salaries to Rs 10000, about four months ago, but no GO is issued.

They alleged that the officials are removing a number of VOAs and RPs working for nearly 15 years and the local politicians are threatening them to resign voluntarily, to give those posts to their followers.

They claimed that they are working in those positions for nearly 15 years with meagre salaries and now they were worried on how to keep their posts than feeling happy for an increased salary.

They demanded the State government to immediately release the GO increasing the salaries to Rs 10000 and see it to be credited to their personal bank account. They demanded that the government should also announce the HR policy and assure that the local politicians and officials do not pressurise them.

They also demanded the government to provide group insurance, identity cards and uniform to the workers. In the afternoon, the additional joint collector Narendra Prasad came to the agitating RPs and VOAs and assured that their demands will be taken to the notice of the government and received the representation from them.