Action plan pressure taking a toll on panchayat secretaries

Hyderabad: While the 30-Day Action Plan was going in the gram panchayats, the panchayat secretaries are angry with the government as a secretary died due to over workload in Nagarkurnool district on Saturday and many have been resigning to their posts. They have been threatening to boycott the duties for over workload.

The panchayat secretaries have boycotted the duties on Sunday all over the State and have decided to meet the higher ups on the issues they have been facing on Monday.

They would decide the future course of action after their meeting with the Principal Secretary of Panchayat Raj department and Commissioner of PR department.

President of Telangana Panchayat Secretaries Central Forum T Parvatalu told The Hans India that the ongoing 30-Day Action Plan has become a big harassment to them and several junior panchayat secretaries have been facing severe workload due to it.

He said that though the government has said that the 30-Day Action Plan has to be taken up with the participation of politicians and public representatives, total burden of implementation of the programme has been put on their shoulders.

He said that the secretaries have been suspended if they do not report to duty by 8 am in the morning. The Panchayat Raj and Rural Development department officials have been exerting lot of pressure on them.

He said that they have been told to fill up several proformas by 8 pm every day and this has become an impossible task to them. He said that due to the severe workload several secretaries are under tremendous pressure.

Parvatalu said that a panchayat secretary of Timmajipet Mandal of Nagarkurnool district, Sravanthi, has committed suicide due to the severe work pressure on Saturday. He said her husband also died few months ago.

Unfortunately, Sravanthi and her husband were orphans and now their two children too have become orphans.

The panchayat secretaries have been alleging that they were asked to carry out works without any money. They said that they have no cheque power to draw the money and the sarpanches and upa sarpanches who have it were not cooperating with them.

They said that the leaders of the ruling TRS did not come forward to take up the programmes as prescribed by the government under 30-Day Action Plan.

He said that the village committees being formed under the Action Plan did not function. They said that about 1,200 junior panchayat secretaries who were selected for the job did not join the duties and about 300 who joined have been resigned to their jobs.