Disburse wages as per norms to cleanliness workers: NCSK chief

TIRUCHY: The Chairperson of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) (cleanliness workers) asked the labour department to send notice to the contractors who failed to disburse wages to cleanliness workers as per the contract norms after the workers approached him and put forth their demands during his visit to Thanjavur on Tuesday.

Chairperson of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis M Venkatesan was in Thanjavur to review the welfare programmes executed for the cleanliness workers. When he interacted with the cleanliness workers, they put forth a series of demands.

They said that they were not regularised despite continuously working for more than 22 years. They said that their residential slots were demolished for the renovation and so they were residing in rented houses that ranged between Rs 4,000 and 5,000.

Since they are given a wage of Rs 15,000, they face difficulty in running their families and they also complain that they were denied wages as per the contract norms.

Subsequently, the Chairperson conducted an inquiry with the Thanjavur Corporation Commissioner G Kannan in which he found that the sanitary workers were distributed Rs 590 per day instead of Rs 624 as per the norms.

Soon, Venkatesan asked the labour department officials to send notice to the contract firms that failed to distribute wages as per the norms. He also asked the contract firms to release the remaining amount to the sanitary workers.

The Chairperson also asked the local administration to ensure full wages to the sanitary staff and on-time payment. He also asked to conduct medical camps to the sanitary workers once in three months. SP R Rajaram, DRO Thiyagarajan and others were present.