Ward and Village Volunteer System introduced by the previous government in Andhra Pradesh continues to remain in the thick of controversies quite often. From the day it was introduced by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to disburse welfare schemes effectively at the doorsteps of the people to till date, the Volunteer System has always been the eye of storm for political reasons.
Though the then Opposition leader and current Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu opposed the idea of this system, he has no option but make a promise during the election campaign to continue it with an additional salary benefit due to its potential impact in the outcome of assembly elections. Naidu announced that he will increase the existing salary of Rs 5000 to Rs 10000 after coming to power.
Now that the TDP alliance came to power, there is a hope that the volunteer system will be continued as promised by Naidu before elections. But, no concrete announcement about it has been made by the government even after 45 days ever since Naidu took charge as the Chief Minister of the state. Meanwhile, the disbursement of pensions through Sachivalayam staff has raised doubts about the continuance of this system.
As per latest reports, the new government is keen on continuing the volunteer system and has decided to revamp it completely with a new work profile to make it more efficient and useful to the government. It has started taking the personal details and educational qualifications of all the existing employees to arrive at clear directives.
Sources revealed that the skill set of these volunteers will be improved using capacity building and skill development programmes in the coming days. The government is planning to utilise the services of volunteers more efficiently by training them as per the requirement. A key decision about volunteers will be taken in the upcoming cabinet meeting.
As per the official data, there are 1,53,908 volunteers who are currently employed as more than one lakh were forced to resign before the elections to campaign for YSRCP MLAs. The previous government spent nearly 2000 Crores every year for salaries of volunteers.