Naidu govt weakening village, ward secretariat system, says YSRCP leader

Amaravati, Sep 29 (IANS) YSR Congress Party Regional Coordinator and former minister Kurasala Kannababu on Tuesday slammed Andhra Pradesh’s coalition government led by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for trying to undermine the village and ward secretariat system by trying to spread falsehoods that the model is ill-conceived.  

Speaking at his camp office in Kakinada, he said the government was weakening a system that brought administration closer to people and was treating Secretariat employees as political adversaries because of its hostility towards Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Kannababu condemned the filing of cases, suspensions and police action against employees protesting for their demands. He said more than 140 employees had been suspended and even women employees were taken to police stations and harassed. Instead of resolving grievances, the government was using intimidation against its own workforce, he said, adding that YSRCP would stand with Secretariat employees.

He said the YSRCP government established 15,004 Village and Ward Secretariats in 2019 and created a structured administrative framework covering duties, job charts and service matters. Employees were placed under the service rules of their respective line departments, two-year probation was prescribed at recruitment, and departments were directed to frame or amend necessary rules. 

He said GOs relating to service rules for 17 categories of employees were issued during the YSRCP tenure, while mechanisms for promotions, regularisation and pay revision were also created. Claims that service rules, job charts or promotion channels never existed ignored those government orders, he said.

Kannababu said the Secretariat system was designed to provide pensions, ration cards, welfare benefits, revenue, agriculture, health and sanitation services at the village level, integrated with the volunteer system to take governance to people’s doorsteps. It also provided a grassroots administrative network during cyclones, floods and other emergencies. Weakening staffing and altering responsibilities would ultimately reduce services to citizens, he said.

He demanded an immediate halt to cases and suspensions and sought a clear roadmap on job charts, service rules, promotions, probation, regularisation and pay revision. The government must also clarify whether it intends to strengthen the Secretariat system or gradually dismantle it for political reasons.

“If the government truly believes this is a useless system, does it have the courage to abolish it completely? If not, why weaken it piece by piece and make both employees and citizens suffer?” Kannababu asked, asserting that YSRCP would continue its fight for employees’ rights and decentralised public services.

--IANS

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