Fever survey workers yet to get April salary

“The salary for April should have been credited to our bank accounts before May 10. However, the authority keeps us in the dark about when salaries will be released,” a fever survey worker attached to Teynampet zone said on the condition of anonymity. 

The fever survey worker said he and his colleagues receive a payment of Rs 12,000 per month and are employed on a temporary basis. Meanwhile, social activists in the city raised suspicion of corruption citing a special council resolution passed on March 31, which fixed Rs 15,000 as monthly salary to the fever survey workers. 

“The civic body has appointed the fever survey workers without following tender process invoking the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act, 1998, that allows authorities to carry out works during natural calamities and emergencies declared by the government. However, the government has declared the present situation as a pandemic, not a natural calamity. There is no transparency in the process,” GM Shankar, an activist, said. 

After the number of cases during the first wave subsided, the civic body terminated around 12,000 fever survey workers. They were reappointed in March following a surge of new cases during the second wave. Initially, around 6,000 workers were appointed and presently there are around 12,000 workers. 

When asked, a senior Corporation official said the monthly salary was fixed at Rs 15,000 during the first wave and council resolution was passed based on that. “The district collector had fixed daily wages to the temporary workers (NULM), which is about Rs 12,000. So, we have reduced the pay on par with other temporary workers in the civic body,” he clarified. 

Another official assured that the salaries of the fever survey workers would be released in a few days.