GHMC all set to dismiss 3,000 contract employees

The list of employees to be rusticated includes two union leaders as well

Hyderabad: Acting tough on agitating sanitary workers, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is set to sack about 3,000 contract workers who did not join duty by Thursday. According to the GHMC officials, the termination list has been prepared and rustication letters will be served to the workers within two days. There were also two union leaders in the list who participated in the recent strike, an official source said.

They claimed that a union leader had been working as a contract driver without a driving license for the past three years and getting salary every month. The officials also wanted stern action to be taken on all employees who had indulged in malpractices. Even criminal cases would be lodged against them after recovering the salary amount from them, they said.

The officials found that some bogus employees were working in their place by paying the original worker a commission of about Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000. The corporation officials said that there were many contract workers who had been getting their monthly salaries for years even without attending their duties for a single day as they were being protected by some union leaders.

Such practices were found to be more among Sanitary Field Assistants, Assistant Medical Officers of Health (AMOH) and others officials. The civic body is planning to introduce bio-metric system in all the circles. The civic body also said it would seed Aadhar card to their bank accounts and salaries would be directly deposited in their accounts.

It made a survey in all circles in which it found that 40 percent of the sweepers were bogus and their salaries were being shared by union leaders and other GHMC officials. It may be noted that Hyderabad produces about 4000 tonnes of garbage on a daily basis. During their strike, sanitation workers, both regular and contract, across the State kept away from duty demanding better wages, health care benefits and protection against professional hazards.

As the sanitary workers abstained from duties, roads, dumping bins and other areas under GHMC saw heaps of garbage overflowing, thus making life in the city a stinking affair. The striking unions were demanding hike in salaries of contract workers from Rs 13,000 per month to Rs 17,400 per month on par with the salaries of government employees.

They also demanded that all contract workers be regularised. Their demands also included allotment of two bedroom houses under the government schemes for the poor. However, the TRS government which hiked salaries of government employees by 43 per cent last year seemed to be wary of accepting the demands of the contract workers as it would add to the burden.