TIRUCHY: Despite the cleanest city tag in the state, and top brass accolades for Tiruchy Corporation's sanitation workers, the ground-level workers are still left at a disadvantage, alleges a 62-year-old former sanitation worker who wishes to remain anonymous.
He has been running from pillar to post to receive his pension for about two years which has been left hanging due to clerical errors of corporation staff, which could have been allegedly sorted in a month. Thanga Sundaram( name changed) said, "I have over 25 years of service as a sanitation worker and have cleaned most of the streets in Tiruchy city. When I retired in June 2022 from Ponmalai Zone, I thought I could lead a peaceful life with my pension." However, during auditing, clerical staff in the Ponmalai zonal office found that they had failed to include the details of two arrears he had not received during his service.
"As they took more than a year to correct these errors, I was even willing to give up on those increments. I am struggling to make both ends meet without my pension," he added. According to sources, this senior citizen is due for a pension of about Rs 15,000, and a few officials, on condition of anonymity, even admitted that this clerical error could have been sorted out within a maximum of one month.
Thaga Sundaram said that his family now survives on the income of his son, who is an auto driver. "Last week, my daughter was admitted to Tiruchy GH for delivery. If the corporation had cleared my arrears, it would have been a great help for me at that time. I don't understand why it takes over a year to include two arrears in my service records," he complained.
Many corporation councillors also shared similar cases with TNIE. "Not only sanitation workers, but even unskilled workers ( plumbers, office assistants, etc.) have faced similar situations. In Tiruchy Corporation, about 200 workers are struggling to receive their retirement allowance," said Councillor N Prabhakaran.
When questioned by TNIE, senior corporation officials said, "We will raise this with the zonal officials and the accounts department. We will also inform our higher officials, and action will be taken on such pending files at the earliest."