No salary; water supply & sanitation workers protest

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 12

Members of the Water Supply and Sanitation Contract Workers’ Union staged a protest over the non-payment of salaries in front of the mini-secretariat complex here on Wednesday. They also burnt an effigy of the department officials and management.

The protesters gathered near Ambedkar Park and raised slogans against officials of the Water Supply Department and the state government. Later, they took out a protest march holding an effigy on their shoulders and gathered outside the mini-secretariat complex and burnt the effigy.

Sandeep Khan, president of the union, said, “To delay the payment of salaries has become a norm for the past several months. As per the rules, the department has to release salaries within the first week of every month. But for over the past eight months, our salaries were not being released on time. On some occasions, salaries were delayed by 45 days or more. The matter was brought to the officials concerned many times, but to no avail. We have not received salaries for the month of January till now.”

Amit Bansal, secretary of the union, said, “When we take up the matter with the officials, they cite a delay in forwarding bills at the subdivision level or some other excuse. The workers are paid low salary and those who joined the department a few years ago get between Rs 7,000 and 8,000 on a monthly basis. When workers do not get it on time, they find it difficult to purchase household goods of daily use. Even they do not have any other source of income to buy such items.”

The union members said they did not want to take out a protest march but they were forced to do so as they had been facing the problem for the past few months.