CHENNAI: If Mamallapuram is now looking clean and beautiful, it’s due to the efforts of sanitary workers, who toiled day and night for the past one month for the summit to become a success.
However, thousands of these temporary workers hired by State agencies to expedite the ‘beautification’ process, allege they have not been paid for nearly a month.
They also do not have any information about when they will get their wages.
G Savithri, working in the temple town, says she is concerned that the authorities will pay only Rs 100 per day, as under the MNREGA scheme.
“Twenty days back, the panchayat said it wanted people for work. A bunch of villagers went to work. We have not been paid yet,” says Savithri.
Similarly, hours before Xi landed in the city, workers were toiling to beautify OMR. Those involved in door-to-door garbage collection were also roped in to clean up the stretches. No extra wages have been promised for them.
"I have been into beautification for 10 days now. The work is separate from the daily garbage collection. Every day the work used to end around midnight,’’ says sanitary worker S Ramesh.