Village Secretariat employees across Andhra Pradesh are gearing up for a statewide protest, demanding the government resolve their long-pending service-related grievances.
The Village Secretariat Employees’ Joint Action Committee (JAC) announced that it will organize a massive march in Vijayawada on October 10.
Their major objections include being assigned the duties of village volunteers, which they insist they will no longer perform. They are also demanding notional increments and release of pending arrears.
Around 13 departments currently operate out of village secretariats, with employees handling not just their core departmental work but also additional responsibilities such as door-to-door surveys and pension distribution.
The JAC said that despite repeated representations, the government has not addressed their concerns.
Employees resent being burdened with tasks outside their parent departments and demand that salaries be paid directly by their parent organizations instead of through local secretariats.
In a warning, the JAC stated that unless the government immediately holds talks and resolves their issues, employees will boycott distribution of social pensions scheduled for October 1.
Signs of unrest are already visible: in some districts, employees have begun exiting official WhatsApp groups as a mark of protest. Leaders in Prakasam district said they will soon announce their own local action plan.
With the Vijayawada March now set to be a high-profile agitation, the focus has shifted to how the state government will respond and what decisions it will take to address the growing discontent among secretariat staff.