NULM staff not given travel allowance, or even office in Vellore

Vellore: Employees of National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM), specially community organisers (COs) attached to the Vellore NULM unit are peeved that despite being in service for the last seven years they have not been provided with tables and chairs.

“As we are field staff we were told that we did not merit tables and chairs. So for the last 7 years, the COs all of whom are post graduates, sit in various places in the Collectorate campus to complete their paper work,” an official preferring anonymity said.

Sources said, “It is really galling that when Vellore district NULM ranks first in the state with regard to various scheme results, COs, who ensure this, are treated so shabbily.”

Another issue is that though they cover 50 km per day on average on work related travel on two-wheelers, they are not provided fuel or travel allowance. “District officials first said that travel allowance would be provided only if the COs travelled more than 14 km and though we explained repeatedly how we were covering nearly six times the norm fixed for TA, nothing came through,” a community organiser revealed.

When DT Next made enquiries, it was revealed that such treatment was due to the COs refusing to “cooperate with the local bosses in getting “feedback” from field staff.

With the scheme nearing the end of its tenure and with a decision on it being extended by the government, public and scheme beneficiary wonder why officialdom treat such efficient workers this way.