PONDA: Around 83 daily wage workers of Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) heaved a sigh of relief as they received their pending wages after one and half month. According to PMC chairperson Ritesh Naik the contract period of daily wage workers ended in April, after the Election Code of Conduct came into force.
Due to the Code of Conduct, PMC could not renew the workers’ contract. However, since door to door garbage collection and segregation is essential on a daily basis, the PMC urged these workers to continue their work, assuring them that their payment would be cleared soon.
However, since the payment of their wages was long overdue and the workers were suffering, the PMC called an emergency meeting and using their powers decided to clear the pending wages of 83 daily workers, amounting to Rs 11.71 lakh, Chairperson Ritesh Naik told media after the meeting.
Meanwhile, the worried daily wage workers, with anxiety writ large on their faces, were present outside the PMC hall, when the Council meeting was progressing. They were eager to know the decision on their pending wages. After they learnt that the Council had decided to clear their dues, they heaved a huge sigh of relief.
Many of them said they suffered hardships during the last one and half month and borrowed money from friends to meet their daily expenses. PMC Councilor Venktesh Naik criticized PMC for delaying the payment to the daily wage workers which caused lot of hardships to them. He also blamed the chief officer for the delay.
