Thousands of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) employees are desperately awaiting their pay cheques even as the public transporter and the Government's Transport Department pass the buck over who is to blame for non-payment of salaries.
K.C. Malik, spokesperson of the DTC Mazdoor Mahasabha. said a large number of DTC employees across various ranks were yet to get their salaries for the month of February-March.
Sources in the DTC attributed the delay in disbursement of employees’ remuneration to the newly sworn-in Aam Aadmi Party's decision to “delay in presenting the annual Delhi Budget”.
A Government source countered the charge saying “the DTC should have planned its finances better.”
“Salaries are usually delayed in March due to a variety of reasons but not for as long as they have this time. And its not just our salaries, even benefits in the form of pensions and reimbursements for medical bills are not being paid to those in dire need of every Rupee they can get,” Mr. Malik told The Hindu .
“We don’t know who is to blame; we will gherao the DTC headquarters this coming week if we do not get our cheques by Monday,” Mr. Malik added.
According to Mr. Malik, about 18,000 drivers and an equal number of conductors were among those affected while the rest were maintenance and cleanliness employees.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Vijay Jolly said, “Are the Delhi Government’s coffers empty? While the CM Arvind Kejriwal was enjoying the comforts at a spa clinic in Bangalore the poor staff of DTC have been left at the mercy of god. This is the start of miss-management of Delhi Govt. Utilities under AAP rule.”
Meanwhile, a blame game is underway between the Transport Department and the DTC.
“We were waiting for a grant for the DTC, which is a usual practice, but got delayed due to the Government’s insistence on a vote on account instead of a full-fledged budget,” a source from DTC told The Hindu .
Another official added that the disbursement of salaries was expected within days of the vote on account being tabled in the Delhi Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
“We appeal to the Chief Minister and his Transport Minister to look into this serious lapse and ensure that the DTC staff wages are cleared without any further delay .The guilty should be punished,” Mr. Jolly said.
Sources attributed the two-month wait for salaries to AAP’s decision to ‘delay in presenting the annual Delhi Budget’
