Over 120 contingency workers, recruited for ensuring healthy living conditions of city dwellers, are living in abject poverty after being denied wages for months together.
The local body had been making use of their services in its divisions for carrying out a wide range of health-related works including mosquito eradication, collection and removal of garbage dumped on roadsides and clearing of drains.
The workers, who are members of the Arogya Sena, were appointed on a daily wage basis.
Each councillor could pick two workers for his or her division following a decision taken by the local body earlier. The workers were offered Rs. 377 for a day’s work.
M. Jaya, a worker engaged in the Edappally Health Circle of the corporation three years ago, said the local body had failed to pay them the wages regularly. “We have never been paid the wages regularly. They would give us salary in a piecemeal manner. Sometimes salary would be paid once in three or four months,” she said.
It was in June last year that the workers were last paid their salary. Since then, the local body has not taken any steps for paying the workers who belong to economically weaker sections of the society, said M.P. Maheshkumar, corporation councillor representing the Kunnumpuram division.
Mr. Mahesh said the civic representatives should hang their heads in shame as none of them could ensure regular payment of salary to the workers who were engaged in menial jobs in the corporation.
Each councillor, who draws around Rs. 4,500 as honorarium, should divide the amount among the hapless workers, he suggested.
Raising the issue in the Council, Mr. Mahesh also criticised the civic administrators for awaiting government clearance to pay the workers their salary.
T.K. Ashraf, chairman of the Health Standing Committee of the corporation, admitted that there had been delay in paying the salary.
The salary disbursement was affected following an objection raised by an official of the local body.
The corporation had written to the State government seeking permission for paying the wages. The workers would be paid their wages once the government approved the request. It had earlier cleared the requests of a few local bodies in the State, he said.
