Village surveyors threaten to stall resurvey work from January 27

Village surveyors who are currently on resurvey work across the State have threatened to stall the work from Tuesday (January 27) if their demands are not met by the government.

There are 9,500-odd surveyors functioning across the State, who find their work a daunting task due to non-provision of gadgets such as laptops and rovers, multiple supervisors in the hierarchy, making coordination tough, and prolonged working hours. Many of them felt fatigued by the “unrealistic deadlines.”

Over 2,000 members of the Village Surveyors Association of Andhra Pradesh (VSAAP) from all the 28 districts converged at Tirupati for the body’s 5th State conference conducted on Sunday, where the members decried the step-motherly treatment meted out to the surveyors, compared to their counterparts working in other wings of the Gram and Ward Secretariat department.

Demanding pay parity, the surveyors wanted a basic pay of ₹32,000 for those who completed five years of service. As part of the rationalisation process, 4,722 village surveyors should be absorbed through counselling process into the allied departments, said association president B. Madhu Babu.

While insisting upon making diploma as the minimum qualification, they wanted technical pay-scale fixed as they possessed skills like QGIS, CORS and AutoCAD.

“Recognising our importance, the government should also offer Grade-I promotion up to 70% at the district level,” added general secretary M. Mahesh Naidu.