Forest staff slams TTD's 'adamant' attitude

Tirupati: Intensifying their 9-month-long agitation, the TTD Forest Employees on Saturday staged a novel protest at the Forest Office here on Harerama Road. The employees wearing 'Thirunamam' raised slogans in praise of Lord Venkateswara, seeking his divine intervention to see the TTD management give up its adamant attitude towards the poor employees agitating for `time scale'.

Addressing the protestors, CITU district general secretary K Murali criticised the TTD management for its apathy on the workers demand.

The employees working in the Forest department were responsible for enhancing greenery and also the well maintenance of TTD forests and gardens in Tirumala and Tirupati down the hills but were meted out a raw deal by the TTD ignoring their hard work facing many risks, he averred.

"A religious institution should be benevolent towards its poor employees and ensure their welfare but in the case of TTD it is different," he said slamming the management's hostile attitude towards the employees.

They reminded that the Chief Minister Y S Jagan Moahn Reddy during his visit to Tirumala before the launch of his Padayatra when he was in opposition assured to extend time scale to forest employees if his party comes to power but his assurance remained unfulfilled, though two years passed after YSRCP came to power. CITU district treasurer Balasubramanyam and city president T Subramanayam also spoke.