Why Telangana government employees are on a strike spree

The strike by municipal civic staff employees of Telangana government has paralysed sanitation in the entire state. The streets and public places are stinking. Many people have already started complaining about health issues like diarrhea and viral fever. Swachch Hyderabad has become "durgandh" Hyderabad. Government has turned deaf ears on the demands of civic staff pay hike. The government should have initiated steps to call the union leaders and municipal bodies and given a settlement immediately as the state is calling tourists also for Pushkarams.

The sanitary workers who are demanding a wage of Rs.14,100 from the present Rs.6,100 which is very low considering the twin cities and urban municipal areas standard of living costs. KCR who hiked the salaries of ZP Chairperson and corporators salaries 0 to 100 times without any demand is now hesitating to grant a reasonable hike to a common labourer who is making our daily life comfortable. The Government also had no pain giving 47 percent fitment to TSRTC employees at one go.

The government which is spending crores of public money on increase and upgradation of vehicles without even necessity is not interested in meeting the minimum reasonable demands of these sanitation workers who work day and night without much protection and safety. KCR himself might have spent over Rs 10 crore on his personal caravan which is higher than 5 years salary budget of these employees. KCR who always preaches about secured life of a common in Bangaru Telangana is not showing it in action.

Moreover, the Telangana CM is now finding it difficult to contain the strikes and Hunger strike culture which is catching up in the State from one department to the other as people of Telangana are taught well by KCR himself on the usage of these tools which he used to achieve a separate state. Even after achieving the new state, KCR regularly threatens Central government with hunger strikes at jantarmantar to resolve inter-state issues with Andhra Pradesh. It's better KCR stops promoting the strike culture if he wants smooth functioning and progress in Telangana state. Imagine what an investor who visits Hyderabad on such days feel about the state?

By Raghubhushan Eranki [Rajahmundry]

The opinion expressed in this article are those the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organisation.