Municipal Corporation of Tirupati outsourcing staff await pending salaries

Tirupati: When the nation is celebrating the May Day on Tuesday, the outsourcing workers numbering 400 of the Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) are yet to get salaries for the last 3 months. Workers the MCT engaged for sanitation and water supply have been working round-the-clock in pilgrim city. The MCT is paying Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000 as salaries for each worker depending on the seniority.

Outsourcing staff did not receive salaries for the months of February, March and April. An outsourcing worker has informed The Hans India that salary pending issue brought to the notice of civic body officials, but the problem was not resolved.

According to official sources, the salaries were not paid to outsourcing workers due to technical fault. The State government instructed the treasury offices in the month of February not to clear the bills. More than Rs 70 lakh salary checks of outsourcing staff were rejected by the treasury office in Tirupati. Even, few regular employees did not get the salaries of previous and present months.

The workers are facing difficulties to purchase essentials as they did not get the salaries. Moreover, the outsourcing staff are under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) and poorest of the poor. Now, they are getting ready to launch an agitation demanding the government to clear pending salaries.

Speaking to The Hans India, sanitary supervisor Govardhan said that the MCT was unable to pay salaries to workers as the government had imposed restrictions on clearance of bills. “The salary bills were pending at the treasury office,” he stated. He expressed optimism that the issue will be sorted out soon. 

By K Nethaji