Gadwal: The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has asked the government to immediately pay five months of pending salaries to workers in social welfare hostels in the district.
On Friday, CITU district vice president Upper Narasimha submitted a letter to district officer Saroj at the Collector’s office. He urged the official to take quick action to resolve the issue.
Upper Narasimha said that 23 workers are currently serving in different welfare hostels, but they have not received their salaries for the past five months. He questioned how the workers are supposed to support their families without regular pay. He added that these workers are always present to keep the hostels clean and assist the students, and it is unfair that their payments are being delayed.
He also pointed out problems with the Provident Fund (PF) system. He said that PF amounts are not being deposited into the workers’ accounts every month, as they should be. In addition, he mentioned that there are not enough staff members in the hostels, considering the number of students. This shortage is putting too much pressure on the current workers.
Narasimha criticized the government for not following the rule of “equal pay for equal work.” He said that hostel workers do jobs similar to government employees but are not paid equally or regularly. He demanded that the government pay the workers directly into their bank accounts every month and immediately clear the five months of pending salaries. He also asked for regular PF payments and more staff to be hired based on the number of students.
He warned that if these demands are not fulfilled, the workers, with CITU’s support, will have no choice but to protest.
Workers Anand Raju, Jayakar, Gopal, Anil, David, and Upper Gopal also took part in submitting the letter and supporting the demands.
