Hyderabad: Former minister T. Harish Rao distributed Dasara gifts to Siddipet municipal sanitation workers on Monday, using his personal funds to purchase clothes for them. The BRS Deputy Floor Leader also joined the workers for breakfast and listened to their grievances individually.
Harish Rao’s Dasara gifts included sarees for women sanitation workers and shirt-and-trouser sets for male employees. He clarified that the distribution involved no expenditure from municipal funds.
During the interaction, he acknowledged the contribution of sanitation workers to Siddipet’s cleanliness and its recognition in national Swachh Survekshan rankings. He credited the town’s sweepers and other sanitation personnel for maintaining public cleanliness through their daily work.
Harish Rao’s Dasara gifts accompanied discussion on wages
Harish Rao also recalled the difficulties sanitation workers had faced during earlier Congress governments led by K. Rosaiah and N. Kiran Kumar Reddy. He said workers had experienced salary delays ranging from three to six months during those administrations. Consequently, employees had frequently staged protests outside revenue and municipal offices to demand payment of their pending wages.
According to Harish Rao, outsourced sanitation workers had received monthly wages of ₹8,300 during that period. However, third-party contractors had routinely delayed those payments. He contrasted those conditions with the governance record of the BRS and highlighted the importance of sanitation workers in maintaining civic services.
The former minister also referred to civic infrastructure improvements undertaken in Siddipet during the BRS government’s tenure. He attributed Siddipet’s national cleanliness recognition to the sustained efforts of municipal sanitation workers and praised their commitment to their daily responsibilities.