Differently-abled prepaid taxi booth staff in Chandigarh not paid wages for 70 days - Hindustan Times
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Differently-abled prepaid taxi booth staff in Chandigarh not paid wages for 70 days

Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | BySrishti Jaswal, Chandigarh
Oct 12, 2018 06:01 PM IST

These men have been working in the booth as counter clerks for more than 15 years now, but their wages have just increased by 27.48 %.

Every morning at 8, without fail, Balwinder Singh gets ready for his 12-hour shift at the counter of the prepaid taxi booth run by the Chandigarh Traffic Police at Sector 17. However, it has been over 70 days since this differently-abled man and the only earning member of his family of six, was paid his salary.

Balwinder and his 11 differentially abled co-workers, most of them unable to use their arms or legs, submitted their second application for their salaries to senior superintendent of police traffic Shashank Anand on September 17.(HT Photo)
Balwinder and his 11 differentially abled co-workers, most of them unable to use their arms or legs, submitted their second application for their salaries to senior superintendent of police traffic Shashank Anand on September 17.(HT Photo)

Now things are getting difficult.

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As Hindustan Times had reported earlier, Balwinder and his 11 differentially abled co-workers, most of them unable to use their arms or legs, submitted their second application for their salaries to senior superintendent of police traffic Shashank Anand on September 17, but nothing has been done about it.

These 12 men have been working in the booth as counter clerks for more than 15 years now, but their wages have just increased by 27.48 %. “That’s not all, now we are told that we might even lose our jobs as we don’t get customers because of taxi aggregators Ola and Uber,” said Jagdish Singh.

Earlier SSP Anand had told Hindustan Times, “If prepaid booths are not economically viable for the government then why should these remain open?”

Paramjit, aged 37, is in a fix, “My wife is eight months pregnant. I don’t have any money to take care of her. Even in this condition, she is teaching tuitions to earn money.” The couple have been borrowing money from relatives. “It has been more than two months now and I have not returned their money,” he says.

Balwinder Singh has been unable to send both his children to school. “I don’t have money for petrol and water, how will I pay for their education.”

A number of letters highlighting their grievances, have been sent by the clerks to the governor, home secretary, UT advisor, MP Kirron Kher, SSP, prime minister as well as the president from 2010 to 2018. No response has been received so far.

When questioned, Kher said, “I have already sent the applications to the governor, what else I can do now?”

Anand did not respond to questions on when these men will be paid next. “Modalities are being worked out expeditiously,” he added.

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