NEW DELHI: A month is left for wedding bells to ring at Rohtas Singh's house - his daughter’s marriage ceremony, which is scheduled in December. However, Singh is running from pillar to post to arrange money for the occasion.
After working in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation's Horticulture department for 32 years, Singh retired this year in January. But neither has his pension started nor is he being paid with the full-and-final amont post retirement.
"I only got leave encashments when I retired, rest settlement money I expected to get in a few months. But then lockdown happened. In the meantime, when things started coming back to normalcy, my daughter’s marriage got fixed. I hoped that my pension would start, but it didn’t. And now I am running to close family members and friends for money fot the function," said Singh.
On Tuesday, the retired supervisor had also written to the Mayor stating his condition and raising concern over the financial constraints that he is facing.
"When I asked the present employees to clear my dues, they said they too haven’t received salary for three four months. Itne din nigam ki seva ki usme bhi ye naseeb hua ki paisa nahi hai kehte hai ( I gave so many years serving the civic body and in return I got only one response that there’s no fund to pay our pension). Whatever money I had was spent in the lockdown. My son works in a private firm but is affected with the job crisis," Singh stated.
Rohtas Singh's case is not the only one. The North Municipal Corporation of Delhi employees and retired persons are frequently hit with the issue of timely payment of salary.
The BJP-run MCD claimed that the Delhi government has deliberately stopped approving funds for the civic body owing to which the authorities are unable to provide with salaries to the staff on time.