The Village Secretariat System has been touted as the brainchild scheme of YSRCP chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy. Though there are several other employees in this scheme – it is the village and ward volunteers who play a crucial role. Also, the volunteer system was introduced following AP CM YS Jagan’s announcement to bring welfare schemes to the doorstep of beneficiaries. In this context, the scheme by the YSRCP supremo chalked out for his party supporters is now backfired like a thorn in the flesh. It is now being speculated that the scheme as a whole has turned a damp squib bringing in huge losses and hardships, instead of profits.
Taking welfare schemes into people
In order to take AP Government welfare schemes to the doorstep of every beneficiary in the state, CM Jagan appointed party workers as volunteers. For this, a volunteer has been appointed for a group of households in a particular locality, both in urban and rural areas. Now the AP Government had announced to provide Rs 5000 monthly wages to volunteers with the YSRCP Supremo promising that the wages would be increased further. Now, it has been over a year that the volunteer scheme has been initiated but instead of hiking salaries, only the workload increased. However, the volunteers continued to work with the hope thinking that their salaries would be hiked.
Ration delivery workers salaries hiked following protests
In this context, the YS Jagan government introduced a new scheme of ration delivery to the doorsteps of beneficiaries via mobile dispensing units (MBUs). The scheme which is the first of its kind in the nation was rolled out amidst much hype and fanfare. To drive these MBUs, drivers were employed and the YSRCP govt declared that a sum of Rs 16,000 would be paid as salaries for drivers. However, with the drivers having declared a protest demanding hike in salaries the govt hiked the wages by Rs 5000, taking the total sum to Rs 21,000. The volunteers couldn’t digest this decision of the YSRCP government, and they have got down to protest demanding hike in salaries.
