Rama Krishna Sangem
Telangana Government Pensioners’ Joint Action Committee (JAC) has threatened protests, from July 15, unless their demands were not conceded by the time. A delegation of the JAC led by it s chairman K Laxmaiah recently submitted a memorandum to Chief Secretary Santi Kumari, IAS, expressing concern over the neglect on the part of the government to solve the demands of the pensioners.
Non payment of dearness allowance (DA) installments and pay revision for the last several years are some of the demands mentioned in the charter already declared. The charter of demands was submitted to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on January 2 and to all the cabinet ministers on June 18. A general council of the JAC was held in Hyderabad recently and it was decided to observe phased protests to press for the demands solution.
On July 15, the JAC will hold protest demonstrations in front of all district collector officers and submit memorandum to the collectors. Only July 30, the pensioners will conduct a Mouna Diksha, silent sit at Dharna Chouk, Indira Park, in Hyderabad. If the problems were not solved by then, the JAC will hold a meeting in August first week to chalk out further plan of protests, aid JAC chairman Laxmaiah and secretary general K Sudhakar Rao.
There are about three lakhs of government pensioners in Telangana. A spokesman of the JAC told Excel India that this is the only state in the country where five DA installments were pending for the last several years. As most of the pensioners depend on the pension and health benefits from the government, it is expected that their problems were solved without the members hitting the streets.
