Exploitation of contract workers condemned

Secunderabad: Railway staff union BMS leader Radhakrishna expressed concern over the central government plans to privatise railways as it may lead to loss of job security of railway employees. He was speaking during the protest staged before Railway Line, organized by BMS affiliated Telangana contract labour union, here on Wednesday.

Radhakrishna alleged that contract labour working in Railways were being exploited by railway contractors in connivance with South Central Railway management. He accused railway contractors of not paying minimum wages to contract labour. As per norms, the payments need to be transferred to bank accounts of labourers, but contractors were paying less amount in cash.

As per the Minimum Wages Act, each labourer should get Rs 15,000 per month but railway contract workers were being paid only Rs 4,000, he alleged. Despite several complaints to railway officials in this regard, no action was taken against erring contractors, he lamented.

He said that contractors were threatening to remove from jobs if anyone complained against them. Radhakrishna accused Manjeera Engineering, a railway contractor company, of harassing contract labourers and demanded that railway officials take stringent actions against it and other erring contractors.