Members of the Joint Action Committee of Employees, Teachers, Workers and Pensioners of AP have decided to donate their two days basic salary, amounting to Rs. 125 crore to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to take up relief works after the Hudhud cyclone caused havoc in Visakhapatnam and damage in north coastal districts.
Members of the JAC, led by its president P. Ashok Babu gave a letter to this effect to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu here on Saturday. The contribution is coming from 7.5 lakh members of JAC, except from the APSRTC, Electricity and Endowment departments.
Mr. Ashok Babu, after handing over the consent letter to Mr. Naidu said the JAC decided to make contribution also even as its members were actively engaged in cyclone relief work. He appreciated Mr. Naidu’s efforts in cyclone relief and said people were proud to have him as their Chief Minister.
There was human touch among everyone involved in the relief operations and all need to continue the hard work till Visakhapatnam has recovered, he said. Mr. Ashok Babu, who is also president of the APNGOs Association appreciated people of Visakhapatnam for bravely facing the havoc caused by Hudhud.
Mr. Naidu while thanking the JAC members for their gesture appreciated the employees engaged in cyclone relief. “There is no fault with the employees and the problem is that those guiding them have no understanding of what has to be done”.
The employees were adopting innovative methods in relief work and were proud about what they were doing, he said citing the examples of a junior engineer restoring power connection from a bent tower in Pendurthi while taking all precautions to avoid people from reaching the tower, and a junior officer of horticulture department who was proud and appeared enthusiastic at 1 a.m. even after despatching 80 fallen trees and tree branches from roads.
Mr. Naidu suggested to the government employees to build a model colony for 10,000 fishermen as part of relief and rehabilitation work. A piece of land would be allotted along with some amount they had donated, he said.
Ministers Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu, Y. Ramakrishnudu and K. Srinivas, teachers’ MLC G. Sreenivasulu Naidu and others were present.
