HSVP workers protest in Gurugram over pending salaries

Data entry operators and security personnel at the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) zonal office in Sector 14 went on a strike on Wednesday to protest against the non-payment of their salaries in the last three months

Data entry operators and security personnel at the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) zonal office in Sector 14 went on a strike on Wednesday to protest against the non-payment of their salaries in the last three months.

HSVP workers protest in Gurugram over pending salaries

Due to the strike, work at the HSVP office got affected in the morning hours as the protesting workers took part in a dharna outside the office for around two hours and returned to work only after an assurance was given by senior officials that their salaries would be processed in the next two to three days.

The protesters, who are mostly contract workers, said that they earn anything between ₹20,000 and ₹25,000 per month and due to non-payment of salaries in the last three months, they are facing a lot of difficulties. The HSVP workers joint action committee — a union of regular employees of the authority — also stood in solidarity with the protesters.

The workers from the administrator’s office, estate office, engineering cell and land acquisition wing, who also joined the protest said, “We have been asking the authority to pay their pending salaries but their pleas have fallen in deaf ears”.

Union leader Ramniwas Thakran said that they will support the contract workers and if their salaries are not paid, they will also join the agitation. “We are standing with the contract workers because they are having a hard time running their families. Their pay package is paltry and on top of that the salaries are not being credited,” he said.

Mukesh Kumar, another union leader, said that the contract workers later met the HSVP administrator, who assured them that they will be paid in the next two to three days. “The workers returned to work after an assurance was given to them by senior officials. If the salaries are not disbursed in the next two days, we will resume our protest,” he said.

An HSVP official said that the matter has been taken up with the higher authorities. “Their salaries will be released in a day or two,” he said, requesting anonymity.