Andhra Pradesh government comes under attack for imposing ESMA on protesting Anganwadi workers

Teachers’ unions and representatives of various political parties and trade unions have strongly criticised the imposition of the Essential Service and Maintenance Act (ESMA), 1971, on the protesting Anganwadi workers and helpers by the Government.

Federation of Andhra Pradesh Teachers’ Organisations (FAPTO) State chairman N. Venkateswarlu and secretary general Chennupati Manjula said the Anganwadi workers and helpers had been pleading with the government to look into their problems for the last three and half years. They were forced to resort to agitation due to the prolonged “indifference” by the government, they alleged.

They said it was unfair on the part of the Government not to implement minimum scales for the community and impose laws like ESMA against them while their demands were justified.

The leaders said the government should invite the representatives of the protesting workers and helpers for talks and solve the issue through dialogue.

Leaders of the United Teachers Federation have also condemned the government’s move. They said the Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, at the time of his padayatra, had promised the community that they would be given better salaries than their counterparts in the neighbouring Telangana State besides an increase in gratuity and promotions. When after a prolonged wait in vain for implementation of the promises, the workers and helpers resorted to agitation for which they had been brought under ESMA.

They demanded immediate withdrawal of the Act and urged the government to solve their issues in a democratic way.

Criticism

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee’s working president Gowtham Janga deplored the government’s move calling it “downright tyranny”. He said instead of fulfilling the promises he had made while he was an Opposition leader in the State, the current Chief Minister was using force to silence the fair demands of the Anganwadi workers and helpers.

He said it was deplorable that the government had borrowed money worth lakhs of crores but was not in a position to pay salaries to its employees.

Leaders of Kula Vivaksha Vyatireka Porata Samithi (KVPS), affiliated to the CPI(M) have called the government act ‘undemocratic’.

The Samithi’s State president, O. Nallappa, and general secretary, A. Malyadri, accused the YSRCP government in the State and the Modi government Centre of suppressing the voices of the working class.