TTD chief Bhumana’s pro-employee approach may benefit YSRCP

Tirupati : Unprecedented wage hike and benefits were provided to TTD employees after Bhumana Karunakar Reddy became chairman.

Bhumana who is also city MLA was appointed as TTD chairman in August last year and soon after that he ushered in a new era for the employees including 16,000 non-permanent and 7,000 regular staff.

TTD Trust Board adopted a resolution providing minimum wage of Rs 16,000 to all non-permanent employees which included employees working in Lakshmi Srinivasa Manpower Corporation (LSMPC) (5,500), Employees of Societies (2,300), Agency 100, contract 700, programme-based artistes 350 and FMS 6,600.

This apart, the Board also approved a resolution for providing 3% wage hike every year to the contract employees working under TTD’s Sri Lakshmi Srinivasa Manpower Corporation (LSMC) benefiting nearly 5,500 employees. Recently, the TTD board also passed resolution providing hike in wages to various categories of employees.

The board also approved to increase the wages of 70 contract laddu tray lifting semi-skilled and unskilled workers in TTD Potu department from Rs 12,523 to Rs 15,000 and gave nod to hike the wages of those working under contract and outsourcing system in various departments of TTD.

The Board further decided to increase the salaries of 51 Vedic teachers working in these schools from Rs 35,000 to Rs 54,000. As many as 138 cleaners and 79 cooks in the Annaprasadam department have been changed to the skilled category and their wages increased from Rs 17,000 to Rs 22,000. Similarly the workers in electrical and water works have been changed from unskilled to skilled category.

Most importantly, house sites allotment which was kept pending for past 15 years has now been allocated to all the 7,000 regular employees and also 4,000 retired employees winning their hearts.

The TTD sources say that, numerically weak and voiceless people engaged in daily rituals and other temple religious duties like Paricharakas, Potu workers and melam staff who hitherto did no get wage hike, have now have their salaries revised.

TTD employees' leader Nagarjuna said that such large-scale benefits were provided for the first time to all employees in various categories.

This would certainly help TTD employees’ families including dependent and extended family members. They constitute a major chunk (about 1 lakh) of total 2.98 lakh voters in Tirupati.