Village secretariats are now the armour and the shield of YS Jagan Government. But a latest decision of the YS Jagan government may make the village secretariat staff to turn against YS Jagan himself. The latest decision of the YS Jagan Government to ask village secretariat staff to surrender their white ration cars or else risk losing their jobs is turning out to be a huge issue.

If the staff follow this rule, almost 1.35 lakh village secretariat staff will have to surrender their white ration card. In Chittoor district alone, there are over 11000 such employees. There are also fears that contract and outsourcing employees too would be added to the list and that they too would lose their white ration cards. Their fears are real as all the welfare schemes of YS Jagan government such as the social pensions, Amma Vodi, Cheyutha, Aasara, Chedodu and others are linked to the white ration cards. With ration cards gone, they will now stand to lose these benefits.

The State government’s rules say that those getting Rs 10000 or more are ineligible for the government’s doles. The salary of the village secretariat staff is pegged at Rs 15000 per month. Sources say that the total number of contractual and outsourcing employees in AP is around 4 lakh. Thus, if the directives are implemented at least 20 lakh people, including the family members of the staff, would be deprived of the largesse.

There is also dissatisfaction about against the computer-based assessment system that the AP Government has brought in. Also, the AP Government has made departmental tests mandatory for these employees for promotions. Though this decision has been deferred in view of the strident opposition from the employees, the government might insist on this again, fear the staff members.