MARGAO
The Goa Municipal Employees Association has knocked the doors of the National Commission for Safai Karmacharis (NCSK) drawing the attention of the commission to the plight of the safai karmacharis working in the Municipal bodies in Goa due to the delay in the payment of wages and failure to regularise the workers.
In a memorandum submitted to the NCSK, Association general secretary Anil Shirodkar called for the intervention of the Commission chairman by taking up the matter of the safai karmacharis employed with the Municipal bodies with the Chief Minister to mete out justice for the working class.
Shirodkar pointed out that the workers of Sanguem Municipality has already served a notice of an indefinite strike on the Council for non-payment of the wages.
The memorandum has drawn attention of the Commission chairman that octroi tax was one of the most valuable source of generation of revenue for the Municipalities, saying the civic body has been left struggling to maintain the revenue position after the abolition of the octroi.
It was pointed out that the government has failed to honour the promise to compensate the civic bodies over the loss of revenue in view of the abolition of octroi, leaving the civic body in deep financial difficulties, so much so they cannot even arrange the funds for the payment of wages to the workers.
“The situation has thrown up a host of difficulties to the Municipal employees, but the safai karmacharis have been the worst affected for non-payment of wages for months,” the memorandum added.
The association also raised the issue of the inordinate delay in regularisation of daily rated and safai karmacharis in the Municipal bodies. “As per the laid down policy, safai karmacharis are eligible for regularisation after a period of five years. However, this policy has been kept in the cold storage over the last 10 years for reasons best known to the government,” the memorandum stated, that the office of Director, Urban development has been sitting on the file for regularisation.
Similarly, the association brought to the notice of the Commission chairman over the non-revival of various posts and promotions for various categories of employees, including safai karmacharis.
The association requested the Commission chairman to take up the matter with the Goa government and insist on filling up all the sanctioned posts which have fallen vacant due to retirement/ promotion/ transfer etc after calling for records of vacant posts in each municipality.
