Outsourced staff at Institute of Hotel Management protest

Tirupati: Non-teaching staff working on an outsourcing basis at the State Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition in Tirupati have been protesting after going without salaries for 23 months.

The employees say they are unable to pay rent or buy food and are struggling to support their families.

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has extended support to their protest.

For the last 11 days, the employees have boycotted duties and staged demonstrations wearing black badges and holding placards, demanding immediate payment of their pending salaries.

CITU district general secretary T Subrahmanyam and vice president K Venugopal said the workers have been facing severe hardship for nearly two years. They criticised the college principal for not responding to the issue.

The leaders pointed out that employees had submitted a representation to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu during his recent visit to Naravaripalle, requesting payment of long-pending dues, but there has been no progress.

The institute, set up in 2012 under the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department, appointed around 40 non-teaching staff through an outsourcing agency.