Door-to-door garbage collection resumed in Mangaluru by noon on Wednesday with civic workers and drivers of Antony Waste Handling Cell (Pvt.) Ltd. receiving message about credit of salary into their accounts on their phones. The company personnel had suspended work on Tuesday following non-receipt of salary.
Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner Mohammed Nazir told The Hindu that on Tuesday the corporation made payment of ₹ 2.20 crore towards salary of these personnel for September. “The company personnel resumed work today after receiving intimation of credit of salary into their accounts,” he said.
The personnel started collecting garbage from the afternoon and by evening, door-to-door collection and removal of garbage piled up by the roadside was completed, he said.
The civic workers and drivers of the company suspended work as the company had not paid their salary for September and October. The company had blamed the corporation for this and said that it had not received the salary component.
In this regard, the company sent legal notices in August. Apart from non-receipt of salary component, the company also made note of the inordinate delay in clearing bills, non-payment of amounts withheld between January 2016 and June 2017, non-payment of difference in minimum wages since its revision in August 2016, and non-payment of cost of escalation of fuel and labour charge since 2016. In all, the company has demanded ₹ 36.31 crore from the corporation.
Bad management
Meanwhile, BJP councillors said that it was bad financial management by the corporation that had led to this crisis. “There is absolutely no money in the corporation to pay the firm,” said councillor Sudhir Shetty and lamented over the lack of efforts by the corporation in collection of property tax and solid waste management cess.
