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Water Transport Workers’ Federation all-India general secretary T. Narendra Rao has opposed the proposal to develop the Golden Jubilee Hospital (GJH) of Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Addressing the media on Friday, Mr. Narendra Rao said that the number of employees was declining in the VPA due to retirements, VRS and freezing of new recruitments. Retired employees are dependent on the GJH for their healthcare needs. “The private investors would treat the retired employees as second-class citizens. It is the responsibility of the VPA to run the hospital,” he said. He also flayed the VPA management for the delay in the announcement of bonus for the employees, though the Central Cabinet had approved the payment of 78 days bonus for railways employees. The same Cabinet had approved the revised scheme for port workers in October 2024. He condemned the delay in the announcement of bonus for port workers. He decried the ‘discrepancy’ in the number of minimum days of work being given to cargo handling workers in the VPA and other major ports in India. While it was only 16 days in the VPA, other major ports were giving minimum guarantee of 21 days. CITU leaders K. Satyanarayana, B. Lakshmana Rao and Ganesh were present at the media conference.
