Hyderabad: Railway contract workers stage dharna in support of demands

Hyderabad: The railway contract workers staged a dharna in front of Rail Nilayam, Secunderabad on Thursday demanding to pay minimum wage and job security to them as per labour laws.

Protestors pointed out that railway contract workers working in different railway stations in Hyderabad and Secunderabad division are suffering from problems like to get their actual wages, being exploited by railway contractors, no ATM cards are been given to them and the contractor has not issued any Employees State Insurance (ESI) cards nor appointment letters.

M Venkatesh, president, of Hyderabad Railway Contract Workers Union, said, "We have been working for years together without being paid minimum wages or any social security benefits. We are compelled to work for 10-12 hours without any overtime payment. The contract workers are working in various departments like permanent way, mechanical, signal, operating, electrical, workshops, manufacturing units, station cleaning, OBHS, supply of bed rolls, loading and unloading of parcels and goods in the goods sheds, and many more. All these jobs are perennial in nature. Many of us have been working against the sanctioned vacant posts for many years with the hope of getting regularised someday but nothing has happened yet. It is high time that the authorities have a look into our issues."

"We are supposed to be paid Rs 654 per day and Rs 17,004 per month but the department is only giving Rs 7,000 to women workers and Rs 8,000 to men workers per month. The contractor is taking advantage of us and vexed with this issue we have stageda  dharna and also submitted a written representation letter to the officials of SCR, said Ramesh(name changed), a contract worker.

"For the past several months, we are struggling to manage our livelihood and are not having any welfare facilities that include ESI cards and PF. Whenever we ask the concerned person the reason for paying us less than the contractors, they are threatening to remove us from our jobs. It will be better if the SCR provides minimum wage eligible facilities and also extend job guarantee to contract workers. We demand the authorities to take stern action against contractors," said another railway contract worker.