Speaker: Jagan Mohan Reddy -Mar20,2012

Expressing solidarity with the local municipal corporation employees, who are on strike demanding pay, YSR Congress Party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday demanded the State Government to immediately clear all dues to the civic staff.
Taking a detour from his scheduled OdarpurYatra in Guntur, he arrived here and visited the camp where the municipal employees were on strike demanding the payment of salaries from the state treasury as done to any government employee.
“For the past three months the employees are not being paid salaries.  Nearly 7,000 employees (4,000 permanent and 3,000 contract employees) are on strike from 9 days, demanding that the salaries should be paid by the state government from the treasury under 1010 account head. This is a fair demand and the State should concede to it,” he said. 
‘The State Government has no consideration for human values as it does not understand how these families will live without salary. What they are asking for is to pay salaries from the treasury as every government employee gets paid and credit the money to their respective bank accounts on the first of every month as is the practice,” he said.
“I urge the State Government to consider the fair demand of the employees on humanitarian grounds and respond immediately,” he said. 
YSR was responsible for all municipal employees getting their salaries directly from the treasury. Vijayawada Corporation was not included into the system at that time as the then Municipal Commissioner, Mr Gulzar contended that the Corporation was in a position to pay salaries and need not take the help of the Government. Thus this Corporation was excluded, he recalled. 
Since times have changed, it has now become necessary that the salaries be paid from the treasury as the Corporation is not doing that well. The nine-day strike by the employees shows the dire need to pay the salaries of the employees from the treasury, Jagan said. 
Earlier, he was accorded a warm welcome at the Gannavaram airport. He will visit Guntur by road and resume his OdarpuYatra from Karumanchi village in Vinukonda.