KALLAKURICHI: Nearly 15 years after their appointment on a consolidated monthly salary of Rs 2,000, 803 sanitation workers in government social justice hostels have been brought under a revised monthly pay scale of Rs 30,000 and appointed as cooks on orders issued by the Social Justice Ministry, following a report on the workers’ demand published by TNIE on June 13 this year, highlighting their long-pending demand.
The development comes after repeated demands from sanitation workers for regularisation and better remuneration. In a petition, M Subramanian, a sanitation worker at a government hostel in Senthanadu in Ulundurpet taluk, appealed to social justice minister Vanni Arasu to address the issue in June.
Subramanian’s petition stated that workers appointed in 2012 received only around Rs 250 a day, despite nearly 15 years of service. K Gandhi, secretary of the Vidivu Sanitary Workers Association, had said that 651 workers who joined service in 2012 were earning around Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 a month, while around 450 workers appointed after 2017 were receiving less than Rs 3,000.
Following the government order, workers thanked the ministry for addressing their long-pending demand. They said the revised remuneration would provide greater financial security to workers and their families.