Kin of beldar shot by Kasauli hotelier await release of salary

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, December 10

Seven months after Gulab Singh, a beldar employed with the Public Works Department’s (PWD) Kasauli division, lost his life after being shot by a hotelier during a demolition drive in the Kasauli planning area, his family awaits the release of full salary as announced by the Chief Minister.

After an inordinate delay, Gulab Singh’s wife Kamla Devi and two daughters Ranjana and Santosh, received the first family pension of Rs 6,455 this month, while the promise of providing a government job to the elder daughter is yet to be fulfilled.

With no means to make ends meet, the family is a disappointed lot as Gulab Singh’s file of granting his family full salary is being passed on from one department to another for the past seven months.

Sources said being a unique case where full salary had to be provided to the family, there were several hassles. Initially, the department had sent the case to the state government on the basis of the Chief Minister’s announcement appearing in various newspapers. The same when forwarded to the Finance Department was objected to as officials demanded its written consent from the Chief Minister’s office (CMO), following which the case was taken up with the CMO.

Since rules did not permit the grant of full salary, PWD officials had to move the case for treating it as a special case. Another reason which delayed the case was the confusion about the amount of salary to be granted as the family pension too has to be given.

After much deliberation, it was finally decided that the amount of family pension would be deducted from the last salary drawn by the deceased to decide the amount of salary to be given to his family till he superannuated. “While a family pension of Rs 6,455 was fixed earlier this month, the case for granting his family full salary is now in its final stages and is likely to be decided soon,” an official said.

Executive Engineer, PWD, Ravi Bhatti said the case was pending with the state government and all formalities had been completed. The family did get Rs 5 lakh as compensation, which was announced by the government soon after his death in May, though the family has struggled to get the remaining dues even after tall promises made by politicians.