ONGOLE: It has been six months, 55-year old D Malakondaiah has received salary and not a day has gone by since then, when he had not shed the tears of anguish, seeing the pathetic situation at his home.
Malakondaiah works as a senior driver in Ongole Dairy, which is currently facing crisis and is reported to be on the verge of closure. His two daughters, who have completed their masters and bachelors degree in engineering sit at home gloomily, as their classmates have secured jobs. The reason they could not get the jobs is that the college they have studied has refused to give them their certificates, though they have passed the exam, as they have not cleared their fee dues.
“Every time I see their gloomy faces, I feel depressed and helpless. With much difficulty, they managed to convince the college management to allow them to write the exam, but at the end even after successfully clearing the exam, they are sitting in the house I have not received the salary for the past six months. I have not paid house rent for the past four months and the house owner is putting pressure on me to vacate the house after clearing the dues,” Malakondaiah explained to TNIE.
He has taken loans against EPF and LIC and even took loans from money lenders for higher rate of interest. Now, no one is coming forward to give loans and he is worried about what will happen in coming days.The situation is no different with 500-odd employees, of whom 78 are regular employees. They say Ongole Dairy management has ruined their lives. “I have to stop the construction of my house midway, as we have not been paid salaries and moreover, banks are putting pressure on me for repayment of the loan as the LIC policy against which I took the loan, got lapsed. I learnt that dairy management has not paid the LIC premiums from 2015 onwards,” said G Narayana, a lower division accountant with the dairy.
Narayana’s wife Sitamahalakshmi is also a contract employee and now with both of them not getting salaries, the owners of their rented house are forcing them to vacate,” Sitamahalakshmi said.
Family members of T Venkata Rao, an employee of Ongole Dairy died in December 2017. His family’s claim for LIC policy was rejected as the premiums were discontinued midway by the Ongole Dairy. “We have taken the issue to the notice of officials and even Minister Sidda Raghava Rao. Now we pinned our hopes on Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. If he too says he is helpless, we are left with no other option other than committing suicide,” said Katuri Srinivas Rao, a junior driver, and Ongole Dairy Employees Union president.
Ongole Dairy has about 30,000 farmers dependent on it and most of them are staring at a bleak future, with private dairies buying milk at very low price. Several are worried about the loans they took expecting payment from the dairy. “Several farmers have taken loans for their buffalos through the dairy and have repaid. But the dairy management failed to repay the same to the banks and now banks have issued notices to us. They have even held back payments for NREGS works to us,” said V Rama Rao of Ponduru in Tanguturu mandal.
K Koti Reddy, another farmer, who used to supply 500 litres of milk from his village, said that he is yet to get `15 lakh dues. “I procured milk from other farmers and now they are bringing pressure on me. Given their situation I paid them to the tune of `8 lakh and now I am in an ungainly situation,” he said.
Left in the lurch
Ongole Dairy has about 30,000 farmers dependent on it and most of them are staring at a bleak future, with private dairies buying milk at very low price
Several are worried about the loans they took expecting payment from the dairy
Several farmers have taken loans for their buffalos through the dairy and have repaid. But the dairy management failed to repay the same to the banks and now banks have issued notices to them