Telangana Minister for Commercial Taxes Talasani Srinivas Yadav condemned the protest by the Congress party at the State Secretariat on Friday, terming it an aimless attempt to please the party’s high command.
Justifying Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s approach towards GHMC workers’ strike, Mr. Yadav claimed that the former had voluntarily offered to raise the pay, even before there was any demand for it.
“During the Swachh Hyderabad drive, he called the workers next to God, and even offered to have houses constructed for them,” Mr. Yadav reminded, addressing a media conference, here on Friday.
Mr. Rao had enquired about the outsourced workers’ pay at the same time, and noted it was very less, he claimed.
The government had increased the pay for NGOs and RTC employees, and it was only a matter of time before it did the same for GHMC workers. Rather than agitating, all the workers had to do was just to represent the matter to the government, he said.
The Congress, which had raised the pay only by Rs.1,800 during its regime, is merely aiming to rake up an issue without any purpose, Mr. Yadav alleged. Over the threat of ouster issued to a section of workers, Mr. Yadav assured that no worker will be treated unfairly. The pay rise will result in Rs.200 crore burden on the State exchequer, while benefiting 24,494 GHMC workers and 900-plus drivers.
