The State government is heavily dependent on ward/village volunteers but has not paid them honorarium for two to five months and should immediately clear them, CITU has demanded.
The administration was getting several important tasks performed by the 2.5 lakh ward/village volunteers, including obtaining information on the all-important COVID-19, its city president R.K.S.V. Kumar and general secretary M. Jaggu Naidu said in a statement here. They were also involved in getting information on ration cards, family and health details. The State government was not justified in extracting work from them without paying them, they said.
Ex gratia sought
Daily wage, construction, pushcart and auto workers who went without work owing to the COVID-19 lockdown should be paid ex gratia of ₹15,000, 50 kg rice, ‘dal’ and edible oil and LPG cylinders free of cost, K. Narsinga Rao (representing construction workers), G. Subba Rao (daily wage labourers) and Y. Raju (CITU) demanded on Monday. They also sought full salary to shop workers during the lockdown period and concessions in the power bill and property tax payable.
