All work and no pay leaves Ludhiana MC employees fuming
Protestinf Ludhiana MC employees say they have turned bank defaulters after not being able to pay the instalments of the loans, while also struggling to meet basic expenses
With the city’s fund-starved municipal corporation (MC) failing to pay its employees the salaries for the month of July, employee unions on Tuesday took to the streets to protest against the civic body.
Criticising the authorities for the delay in payment of salaries, members of the Municipal Karmchari Sanyukt Committee staged a protest outside municipal commissioner Shena Aggarwal’s office. The Sewermen and Safai Karamchari Sangharsh Committee also met Aggarwal to discuss the issue.
Notably, the Municipal Employees Sangharsh Committee had also taken up the matter with the commissioner a few days ago, demanding that the salaries should be released at the earliest.
Struggling to meet basic expenses
The union members said the employees were turning bank defaulters after not being able to pay the instalments of the loans, while also struggling to meet basic expenses including their children’s school fee buying groceries.
Municipal Karamchari Sanyukt Committee member Vijay Kumar said the authorities’ apathy had forced the employees to protest, adding, “How can a Class 4 employee make ends meet without their salary. Over a month has gone by, but the MC has still failed to pay the salary for July.”
Sewermen/Safai Karamchari Sangharsh Committee chairperson Chaudhary Yashpal, meanwhile, said they had also asked the MC commissioner to expedite the process to regularise the contractual employees.
Despite attempts to reach Aggarwal for comments, she remained unavailable.
The MC employees, however, claimed that the civic body’s struggles to pay stemmed from the state government’s failure to release the MC’s share of the Goods and Service Tax (GST).
Ludhiana West legislator Gurpreet Gogi, who met Aggarwal on Tuesday to discuss other issues, on seeing the protesting employees said he would also take up the matter with the state government.