Three months without pay, Patiala’s sanitation workers struggle to make ends meet
The MC awarded the integrated solid waste management work to M/s Suntan Life at a quoted cost of Rs 50.71 crore on February 26, this year
Every day, they collect the garbage from Patiala’s roads, load it onto transport vehicles and ferry it to the landfill site. But for many sanitation workers of a private company hired by the Municipal Corporation (MC) to keep the city clean, the essential job has come at the cost of their own financial security.
They allegedly have not received their salaries for the past three months, while some who have been paid claim they received wages lower than the DC rates notified by the district administration.
A sanitation worker, requesting anonymity, said he was hired by the company in May but had not received his salary for three months. “I have to run my household, but no salary has been paid for three months,” he said.
Another worker claimed that their wages were considerably lower than the DC- rates. “Most of us get less than Rs 10,000 in cash,” he said.
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What Suntan Life firm director says
Shaurya Galhotra attributed salary delay to technical issues in maintaining attendance records of some workers who had shifted to his company from other sanitation firms.
“Our supervisors are working extra hours to maintain their online attendance and link their bank accounts. Hopefully, all of them will get their salaries by next week,” he said.
Galhotra said the company had been working with the MC for about four months but had not received any payment from the civic body so far.
“We have hired at least 380 employees and are running hundreds of vehicles along with other machinery to keep the city clean. It is a challenging job. As of now, we are managing the finances on our own,” he claimed.
Mayor Kundan Gogia said he had asked the MC Commissioner to coordinate with senior officials of Suntan Life and apprise them of the issue so that workers’ salaries could be released as soon as possible.
“Regarding the payments to the company, we will definitely release its dues as per the agreement by next week,” he said.
The MC had awarded the integrated solid waste management work to M/s Suntan Life at a quoted cost of Rs 50.71 crore on February 26, this year. The firm started the work in the month of May. The contract covers door-to-door garbage collection, segregation, transportation, processing and disposal of waste generated in the city. The company has also been assigned work of the disposal of silt removed from drains.
