Sathya Sai Water Supply Scheme likely to be divided, allege workers

They stage a protest at the Collector’s office seeking payment of dues

The Sri Sathya Sai Water Supply Scheme Board that serves the drinking water needs of 750 villages in Anantapur and Sri Sathya Sai District is likely to be divided into individual schemes, handing over the management to the respective gram panchayats in the near future, apprehend union leaders of the Board.

Workers sat on a dharna at the Collector’s office on Monday seeking payment of gratuity for 572 workers who had either retired or left the service.

The workers’ union led by G. Obul and H. Thippeswamy met Collector Nagalakshmi Selvarajan, who is also the chairperson of the water supply board, and listed their demands. However, there was no response from the district authorities, they alleged. The union leaders said that they had spoken to officials of Larsen and Toubro (L&T) in Chennai, who wanted the union to put pressure on the government to pay their dues after settling whatever was owed to the workers.

“According to the L&T authorities, they are expecting over ₹30 crore from the State government towards Operations and Maintenance (O&M) charges and out which ₹7 crore was due to the workers,” said Mr. Obul.

Currently, the Sri Sathya Sai Water Supply Scheme Board is headed by the District Collector and is being managed by a few major contractors, but major O&M contractor Larsen & Toubro Ltd. withdrew in June 2021, with close to ₹35 crore of payments reportedly pending from the State government.

The workers have been agitating intermittently for payment of their salaries, Provident Fund and gratuity dues for the workers who had retired or had resigned. The workers continuing in the service are also demanding issuance of identity cards.

The workers also demanded a minimum wage of ₹26,000, and settling of two months of payment, EPF and ESI amounts due to them from the contractors working under the supervision of the Rural Water Supply Department.