TENKASI / TIRUNELVELI: Around 300 labourers of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board in Tenkasi and Tirunelveli districts have demanded that their monthly wages be credited directly to their bank accounts. They urged Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay to consider their demand, expecting major reforms in the Board which has been brought under his direct purview.
Most of these workers have been working for more than 15 years in various Thamirabarani Combined Water Supply Schemes. The workers alleged that a contractor-official nexus caused a wage shortfall of nearly Rs 90 crore annually for around 12,000 contract labourers across the State.
They alleged that while the minimum wage fixed for labourers working in the schemes is Rs 15,401, they are paid only between Rs 7,500 and Rs 9,800 a month, resulting in a shortfall of up to nearly 50%. "For more than a decade, we have been fighting for our rightful wages in the labour court. However, the contractors-officials nexus ensured that we did not get justice. Now that the TWAD Board which is the principal employer of these labourers has been brought directly under the purview of the Chief Minister for the first time, we hope he will bring reforms in the Board, starting with ensuring that workers are paid their wages through bank accounts. It will immediately plug the wage leakage and safeguard the livelihood of labourers," the workers said, requesting anonymity.
The labourers said that the TWAD Board had issued instructions from time to time to Executive Engineers (EEs) and contractors to ensure payment of wages through bank accounts to avoid swindling of a portion of payment, but alleged that such directions were not being implemented.
They also pointed to Section 55(2) of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, which requires contractors to disburse wages to contract labour through bank transfer or electronic mode. The workers further said that TWAD tender conditions had also provided for labour payments through cheque or transfer to bank accounts.
"Whenever we seek implementation of these provisions, contractors, with the support of EEs, refuse to do so. There have been instances where labourers were removed from their jobs after demanding payment of their entitled wages through bank accounts," they alleged.
The workers said that direct bank transfers would create a transparent record of the amount payable and the amount actually received by each labourer, and urged the Chief Minister to make such payments mandatory and ensure that contractors comply with the requirement. Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Chairman of TWAD Board, did not respond to the labourers' allegations despite messages and calls made by TNIE. When asked why he failed to ensure disbursal of salary through labourers' bank accounts, S Elango, EE of Tenkasi district, said that he was not aware of laws and GOs mandating such disbursal.