Pay sanitation staff, Uttam tells govt

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded that the state government immediately release pending salaries to municipal sanitation staff and ensure supply of personal protection equipment for medical professionals.

Mr Reddy was speaking after felicitated the sanitation staff of Miryaguda municipality on Tuesday along with Congress leaders by showering flowers petals and washing their feet. Congress leaders also provided them with cash incentives, masks, food items and other equipment. Mr Reddy applauded the services being rendered by the sanitation staff, medical professionals and police personnel and said it was a privilege for him to felicitate the sanitation staff on the occasion of World Health Day. He expressed shock after learning that the sanitation staff of Miryalguda municipality had not been paid salaries for two months.

He said they were not being supplied with safety equipment. He spoke to the municipal commissioner and urged him to release the salaries.

The TPCC chief said that the statement made by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Monday that the state's revenues in the last week of March had dropped from estimated `2,400 crore to just `6 crore was puzzling. What happened to the revenues collected before the imposition of lockdown on March 22, he asked.

Stating that the government must have collected over `7,000 crore in the first three weeks of March, he asked the Chief Minister to clarify on their utilisation as the government had so far not spent a huge amount on anti-coronavirus operations.