MARGAO
Margao Municipal Council Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai on Tuesday assured that the civic body would reimburse the provident fund amount to the daily wage workers, but not before issuing a stern warning that the municipality will not accept any agitations by the workers with the support of outside persons.
A day after the daily wage workers formed a human chain around the municipal building in protest against the illegal deductions of provident fund amount by the civic body and failure to reimburse the amount, an agitated MMC Chairperson conceded there was discrepancy on the part of the council when it deducted the municipality’s share of the provident fund contribution from the salary of the workers.
She, however, bitterly criticised the daily wage workers for going on strike by forming the human chain. At one stage, Babita told the workers that they may take it as a warning that she along with the Chief Officer will initiate action if they resort to any agitation with the help of former MMC Chairperson Savio Coutinho.
In fact, Babita sought to know who was this Savio who was leading the workers at the human chain, warning that the civic body would not tolerate any such acts in the future.
She sounded a warning to the daily wage workers that the municipality will be forced to outsource or give on contract the collection of door-to-door waste.
She later told the media that she was not ready to accept the plea of the workers that they had resorted to the agitation after the expiry of 15 days. “They could have told the civic body to resolve their issue within 15 days. On the other hand the issue is not easy as it appears as the office has to calculate the arrears of each individual workers, a work which cannot be completed within a fortnight,” she added.
Saying that Chief Officer Sidhivinayak Naik had suo moto started the process of calculating the provident fund arrears of the workers, Babita said certain vested interests are trying to take mileage by raising issues which were being addressed by the civic body.
In the meantime, the MMC Chairperson said the civic body has also taken up the issue of delay in the disbursement of provident fund of the eight retired daily wage workers.
A day after the eight retired daily wage workers led by Camilo Barretto went on a dharna in front of the municipal building, the MMC Chairperson said the civic body has got the provident fund records of four of the eight workers completed in all respects, adding that the four workers may receive their payments either by end of March or mid-April. Camilo Barretto, however, said the dharna will continue till the municipality clears the payments of all the eight workers.
