Vijayawada: A new 11-member committee was unanimously elected with P Sunitha and P Mary as president and secretary respectively for the workers of Dr BR Ambedkar Smriti Vanam here on Tuesday. While Ch Mallika and P Satyavathi were elected vice-presidents, M Sujatha and K Dhanalakshmi were elected assistant secretaries, and M Deepika was elected treasurer. P Vijayakumari, K Anusha, Lamu Terojamma, and Sk Jahendra were elected as committee members. The meeting of workers was held at Sri Sri Bhavan. CITU Central City President K Durga Rao and Secretary M Babu Rao organised the meeting.

On the occasion, Durga Rao and Babu Rao congratulated the newly formed committee. They stated that the previous state government established the Dr BR Ambedkar Smriti Vanam as a prestigious project, but the current coalition government is trying to evade its responsibility for its supervision. As a result, they said, the workers at Smriti Vanam have not been paid salaries for the last eight months and are facing many difficulties from the contractor and authorities. They expressed their anguish that the workers are not even provided with basic facilities like ESI and PF. The CITU leaders demanded that the state government take responsibility for the supervision and development of the Ambedkar Smriti Vanam, which is in the heart of the city. They urged the government to develop it in a way that educates current and future generations about the memories and services of Dr BR Ambedkar to the country.

They warned the government and authorities that if they don’t respond and immediately pay the workers’ pending wages and provide facilities like ESI and PF, they will unite all the workers and intensify their protest programmes in the future.