CHENNAI: More than 250 employees of Chennai Metro Rail have threatened to intensify their strike after officials suspended seven employees for allegedly questioning the contract system wherein it is said a huge amount of public money is being paid to middlemen contractors to hire employees.
An employee belonging to Chennai Metro Rail Employees Union told Express that Chennai Metro Rail is hiring employees on a contract basis at a monthly cost of Rs 65,000, while the permanent employees are paid only Rs 25,000.
“What is more agonising is that a contract employee gets only Rs 15,000 as salary. The seven employees questioned why Rs 50,000 was being paid to the middlemen contractor. This incensed officials who suspended seven of our employees” said a staff.
“We are demanding that the suspension be revoked or else we will intensify the strike,” the employees said. Currently, the strike is being conducted in such a way that rail operations are not affected, he said.
When Express contacted Chennai Metro Rail spokesman, he said the seven officials were suspended as they had gone against the company policies.
The employees also allege their pay rise was not on a par with executives.