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The Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday organised a 24-hour dharna at Dharna Chowk in Hyderabad on Tuesday, demanding payment of long-pending retirement benefits to government employees who retired in the last two years. Party leaders have said the protest highlights the state government's alleged insensitivity towards retired and current employees.
Speaking at the protest, Telangana BJP President N Ramchander Rao said, "BJP has organised a protest at Dharna Chowk to demand payment of retirement benefits to the government employees who have retired in the last 2 years. There are around 21,000 retired employees, and because of non-payment of retirement benefits, nearly 40 of them have committed suicide. Rs 2,000 crores is due to be paid to these retired employees as their retirement benefits. All our MLCs and other party workers are here on a 24-hour dharna to protest the government's insensitivity. The salaries of existing government employees are not being paid on time." Meanwhile, BJP MLCs Anji Reddy and Malka Komuraiah, speaking to ANI, said the protest aims to press the Telangana government to clear the pending retirement dues of employees who have completed their service. Malka Komuraiah criticised the ruling Congress government, alleging that it had failed to honour its pre-election promises related to employee welfare. He said, "The BJP MLCs are organising this protest in which the retired employees will be participating....They are not getting the retirement benefits. The Congress, before winning, made several fake promises, ensuring retirement benefits, among others. However, they are no longer paying the employees. Retired employees receive their money in small instalments...Only central government employees are getting all the employment benefits, and the same is true in all BJP-ruled states....We will be protesting against, and I request all the affected employees to join us." MLC Anji Reddy also raised concerns about the condition of outsourced employees working in various state government departments. He said, "Nearly 5 lakh people are working in Telangana across 31 departments. In the Panchayati Raj, the number is 1 lakh people. 70,000 people work in municipal corporations, and 60,000 work in the health sector. Many of them are outsourced employees. They work through agencies, but they are also government employees. However, they have no guarantee of work or the benefits of a government job. If a state-run corporation replaces the agencies, it will be beneficial." (ANI)
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