MARGAO
If the 200-odd daily wage workers formed a human chain on Monday to demand reimbursement of their illegally deducted provident fund amount, retired Margao Municipal daily wage workers resorted to a dharna at the entrance to the Municipality building to demand provident fund.
Led by Scheduled Tribes leader Camilo Barretto, the retired MMC daily wage workers resorted to the protest dharna to demand payment of the provident fund amount. These retired workers contended that they had put in work in the Municipality on daily wage basis since 2001 and lamented that they are yet to receive payments of the provident fund contributions.
Briefing the media, Camilo Barretto claimed that there’s been an inordinate delay on the part of the civic body to clear their provident fund amount, further claiming that a couple of workers have died without receiving the benefit of their hard work.
He lamented that while these workers had put in hard work on the roads and on garbage to keep their city clean, they have not been left in the lurch by the Municipal authorities in their old age. “These retired daily wage workers all hail from Fatorda and belong to the Scheduled Tribe community. They have resorted to this strike as their pleas to the Municipality to release their provident fund amount has fallen on deaf ears,” Camilo added.
He warned that the workers will continue the dharna indefinitely if the civic body does not see reason and release the payment to these retired workers, who are now all senior citizens.
