HYDERABAD: It was in December last year when nearly 280 home guards attached with Transport department in various RTA offices across the state drew their last salary. Since then they are toiling as drivers, office assistants etc without salaries and facing immense hardships in their day to day life. Many of them have taken loans for the high rate of interests and are unable to repay even the interest amount. While some are also working as part-time employees in private sectors for a living. “It has been more than eight months since we received our salaries. State government keeps on spending crores of public money for organizing Bonalu and Ganesh festivals and other programs, but when it’s our turn they are least bothered,” said a home guard seeking anonymity at Khairtabad Transport office.
Expressing their resentment, home guards working at Khairtabad office demanded the government to release their pending salaries and allowances without further delay.At present, the government pays `12,400 excluding daily allowance of Rs. 25 to each home guard.
“I am the sole breadwinner in my family and is the only source of income. Due to delay in depositing of salaries, even my family is suffering badly,” said another home guard at Kondapur office. Meanwhile, he added that they cannot demand the government as it’s matter of their career. Meanwhile, the official of transport department said that all their arrears will be cleared in less than a week. “The state finance department has recently released Rs. 20 lakh to clear the pending salary amounts of some home guards. However, we need more than Rs. 3 crore to clear all the arrears,” said a transport official.
Heavy rush at RTA offices
With the long weekend of four days coming to an end on Wednesday, all the 11 Regional Transport Authority (RTA) offices in the city witnessed heavy rush of applicants for availing services
For instance, on an average 1,000 different transactions take place at Khairtabad RTA office on regular days, but on Wednesday transactions increased by 50 pc
As the waiting period was long, agents and driving schools were minting money by charging high amounts from applicants