By DC Correspondent
Copyright deccanchronicle
Hyderabad:The Hyderabad Disaster Management and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) employees, including marshals and Disaster Response Force (DRF) staffers, staged a protest on Thursday for the second time in front of its office located at Buddha Bhavan near Tank Bund.On Thursday, they protested against the decrease in salary and a similar protest was done when an order related to the slashing their salaries was issued in August. Over 300 members participated in the protest.On average, this month the HYDRAA staffers received `5,000 less compared to earlier. While the ones whose salaries were `29,250 per month received `22,500; the ones with `20,000 per month salaries were credited with `15,000.The ones whose salaries have been delayed also include marshals who were earlier hired by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) from the Army Welfare Placement Organisation (AWPO) for Enforcement Vigilance & Disaster Management (EV&DM) in March 2020, during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The marshals and other staff are a part of DRF control room, lake and park lookout works, round the clock lake rejuvenation duties, demolition drives, data gathering and removal works of illegal advertisements, etc.On August 5, a Government Order (GO) was issued decreasing the salaries. “It is ridiculous that despite seeing our monsoon emergency works, our salaries have been reduced,” said a protestor.According to senior HYDRAA officials, efforts are being made to disburse salary like earlier without any reduction with the assistance of the GHMC.HYDRAA in a press release stated that the state government suggested that the difference should be provided as a matching grant from the GHMC. HYDRAA tried to pay the entire salaries of each employee with the matching fund, however, there was a delay in its arrival, the press release stated.HYDRAA commissioner A.V. Ranganath also held discussions with the employees on this issue on Wednesday. The outsourced employees were convinced after being assured that their salaries would not be reduced and that they would be adjusted soon as the matching grant was released from the GHMC
