Sanitary workers and scavengers employed at police stations across Telangana staged a protest at the State Secretariat in Hyderabad on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, demanding the immediate release of their pending salaries.
Around 150 workers gathered at the Secretariat seeking payment of dues they claim have remained unpaid for the past 20 months. The protest highlighted the hardships faced by workers engaged in essential public sanitation services.
The workers are enrolled as part-time staff and maintain sanitation at police stations across the state.
They receive a minimum monthly salary of ₹5,200.
Approximately 4,500 workers are affected by the prolonged delay in payments.
Workers stated that repeated assurances from senior officials that salaries would be credited the following month have not materialised.
“For the last 20 months, our salaries have not been paid. Every time we raise the issue, senior officers assure us that the salary would definitely be credited the next month. But it has not been paid so far.”
The workers reported that they had earlier met Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy to appeal for clearance of the dues. They also visited Praja Bhavan but were informed that the government would need to clear the payments.
They had hoped to meet Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy at the Secretariat. Upon learning that he was in New Delhi, they sought to meet Home Secretary Shikha Goel to submit their appeal.
A woman worker noted that the monthly payment had gradually increased over the years — from ₹150 to ₹500, then ₹3,000, and finally to ₹5,200 under the previous BRS government — but the current amount remains difficult to manage, especially with the long gap in payments.
The protest brings attention to wage-payment concerns among workers involved in essential public services, particularly those in contractual or part-time roles supporting police infrastructure across Telangana.