VIJAYAWADA: As many as 120 sanitation workers have not been paid wages for the past five months by municipal contractors.
According to sources, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has entrusted the sanitation works to three self-help groups in the city after being dissatisfied with the work of Mumbai-based private firm BVG India Limited. Soon after that, in May, 2016, the civic body entrusted the task to municipal contractors for a period of three months till August, 2016.
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. Municipal contractors entered into an agreement with sanitation staff that they would be paid Rs 300 per day as against the actual pay of Rs 366 per day as per the guidelines of GO No. 279. They were paid salaries by the contractors till August, 2016 and from then till date they failed to do so.
Speaking to Express, Municipal Corporation Employees Union State secretary M David said that despite several protests, the VMC had unilaterally passed a resolution in the recent council meeting to invite open tenders for sanitation maintenance in the city.
A few months ago, the VMC had blindly entrusted the sanitation works of the city to private consultants without learning any lessons from the episode of Mumbai private firm BVG India Limited. Though the civic body is claiming that salaries are being paid under GO No 279, works are entrusted to the contractors on nomination basis. Sanitation workers received a meagre pay of Rs 260 per day against the actual pay of Rs 300 per day.
David accused that BVG had duped 120 sanitation workers as it did not pay their wages of Rs 8,000 per month till date. “Now the contractors are utilising the workforce and making big bucks without paying the wages for the past five months. Also, they did not pay the workers as per the norms,” he said.
When contacted, VMC chief medical and health officer Dr M Gopi Naik admitted that one of the municipal contractors who had been assigned the task had not made payments for five months. The issue will be brought to the notice of Municipal Commissioner G Veerapandian and action will be initiated against the contractor, he said.