With their strike entering the sixth day on Monday, the employees under the Velugu scheme demanded that the government should either include them under the  time scale  model or enhance their wage by at least 50 %.

Staging a dharna near the Gandhi statue opposite the GVMC administrative building here, Velugu Employees Association president S. Srinivasa Rao said that about 4,595 contract workers had been working under the Velugu scheme since the State bifurcation on minimal pay scales.

SERP scheme

The Velugu workers were recruited in 2000 as part of an initiative under the SERP scheme to promote government welfare programmes such as Srinidhi and Chandranna Kanuka and etc. They are working in various cadres such as district project manager, assistant project manager, project manager, community coordinators and administration staff.

 The manager level staff are being paid in the range between ₹20,000 and ₹ 25,000, while the CC and administration staff are being paid around ₹10,000 a month, which is less than the minimum wages as notified by the Supreme Court, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said.

Wage disparity

He further said the workers were selected through a written test followed by interview and their contract is renewed every five years.  The government must include the staff in the  time scale model to ensure job security or increase the wages by 50 %. In other States, a community coordinator recruited under the same scheme under National Rural Livelihood Mission earns around ₹40,000 per month while the manager cadre pay varies from ₹60,000 to ₹90,000,  Mr. Srinivasa Rao said.

 We will continue the State-wide strike until the government concedes our demands, Venkat Ramana of the Velugu Employees Joint Action Committee said.