VIJAYAWADA: At last, the 120 sanitation workers in the city who have not been paid wages for the last six months by municipal contractors will receive their wages for the months of October and November shortly. On Wednesday, the cash-strapped Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has finally sanctioned `27 lakh to the three municipal contractors who employed 120 sanitation workers.
It may be recalled here that around 180 sanitation staff were deployed on Canal Road, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Eluru Road and the NH stretch between Ramavarappadu and Gannavaram Airport from June 2016. Of the total, only 120 sanitation workers have attended the duties.
Municipal contractors entered into an agreement with sanitation staff that they would be paid `300 per day as against the actual pay of `366 per day as per the guidelines of GO 279. They were paid wages by the contractors till August 2016. From the following month, the workers have not been paid.
When Express interacted with few sanitation workers on Wednesday, they expressed their happiness and thanked this newspaper for highlighting their plight and standing by them in difficult times.
“The municipal contractors didn’t even show mercy to us, despite our several appeals. Soon after receiving the wages I should repay some amount to a private lender,” says G Narasamma, a sanitation worker.
“Due to non-payment of wages since last October, I faced many problems and failed to feed my child twice a day. I didn’t even take a single day off though I am not well. At least now, the municipal contractors should recognise our hardships and provide wage arrears at the earliest,” said V Adi Lakshmi.
Speaking to Express, Municipal Corporation Employees Union State secretary M David said that indifferent attitude of the VMC towards municipal contractors is the main reason for the delay in providing wages for the sanitation workers.
In the last seven months, workers have faced severe hardships in taking care of their families. The civic body officials should also provide wage arrears to the sanitation workers immediately, he demanded.