Over 100 executives of private companies stopped at the border

A number of executives said that they were from the finance department and salary section of the human resources department and were on their way to process salaries.

More than 100 mid-level and senior executives of private companies were not allowed to enter Gurugram by the city police at the border on Saturday.

Gurugram Police personnel screen commuters at the Delhi Gurugram Border (Sirhaul border) on NH 48 during lockdown in the wake of coronavirus, in Gurugram.

A number of executives said that they were from the finance department and salary section of the human resources department and were on their way to process salaries. They also said that they had valid permissions from the government but they could not furnish supporting documents to be allowed to enter the city, said the police.

Karan Goel, the assistant commissioner of police (ACP), deployed at the Sirhaul border, said that they cannot allow anyone unless they have a fresh permission and an emergency. “These people should apply for permission on the SARAL portal or ask the labour commissioner to issue directions so that they can cross the border to process the salaries within two days,” he said.

More than 100 such executives were turned away from the border on Saturday since, as per the existing directions, salary does not fall under an emergency criteria, said police officials deployed at the border.

Dhirender Singh, a senior HR executive of a private company in Udyog Vihar, said he could not cross the border on Friday as all the previous passes were cancelled and their fresh applications were not considered. Further, we have not received any response from the district administration till now. “We need to transfer salaries by Monday as people need to pay their rent, school fees for their children and meet other expenditure. Our company has always paid by the second of every month but due to this pandemic and borders being sealed, the process has been delayed,” he said.

Another senior executive of a private company in Cyber City said they need to process all the salaries and check the deductions before preparing the final amount to be paid. “Its been more than a month that we have not been to office and many of us are working from home. We need to visit our office premises and update some balance sheets to release the salaries of the employees. The district administration needs to take this seriously as this is no less than an emergency,” said Rashmi Kapoor, a senior HR executive.

Amit Khatri, Gurugram deputy commissioner, said they are issuing passes for all kinds of emergencies and the companies should be very specific while entering details on SARAl portal. “We are trying to resolve all issues related to emergencies,” he said.

Despite repeated calls and messages to Munesh Sharma, assistant labour commissioner, he did not respond.