No salaries for 32 months, de-addiction centre defunct; staff facing financial ruin

Sunit Dhawan

Rohtak, June 2

The employees at the Red Cross Drug De-addiction and Rehabilitation Centre in Rohtak have not received their honorarium for 32 months. The employees have been forced to take loans from banks and private moneylenders to make ends meet due to non-payment of their wages for nearly three years.

“The burden of debt is increasing and it has become difficult to pay even the interest on loans. However, we have no other option as we have to take care of our families,” says one of the employees, requesting anonymity.

The centre is lying non-functional for several months as the consultant/counsellors have been posted elsewhere or retired. A staff nurse, a ward boy and a sweeper are manning the centre as of now.

“The centre is neither being run properly, nor has it been shut down, leaving us in the lurch,” lamented an employee.

In response to a complaint lodged by an employee at the Chief Minister’s Grievances Redressal System, the district Red Cross branch had maintained that they had no funds to pay the honorarium to the employees.

The affected employees met Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and apprised him of their plight recently. The employees were then informed by the CM’s office that the grant for their honorarium had been released. However, they are yet to receive it.

The employees also met the Rohtak Deputy Commissioner, who assured them that their concern would be addressed by the state authorities.

Pradip Hooda, secretary, District Red Cross Society (Rohtak), said the district administration was pursuing the matter with the state authorities and the honorarium would be given as soon as the grant was received.