The ‘financial mismanagement’ in Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has made the lives of the kith and kin of deceased VMC employees miserable. Their only breadwinners have either died while on duty or naturally. They have not received even funeral expenses solely due to diversion of funds by the corporation officials.
Vemula Ankul, a sanitary worker, died in a road accident while he was on duty a year ago. Since then, his wife, Vemula Tirupathamma, is making rounds in the corridors of the VMC with a hope that benefits like Provident Fund (PF) and ESI would be given to her. All her efforts have gone in vain. “When my husband died, even funeral expenses were not given to me. The officials at the ESI told me that the corporation has not deposited any amount in the name of the deceased,” she says.
It was not the problem of Tirupathamma alone. As many as 32 persons have similar tales to tell. “My husband breathed his last when the dumper bin fell on him eight months ago. I have not received any help,” says Adilakshmi, wife of N. Srinivasa Rao, another sanitary worker.
In a road accident, Tumalapalli Sujatha lost her husband Tummapalalli Lakshmaiah. Her husband was on duty when a lorry ran over him nine months ago. She has not received the funeral expenses of Rs. 10,000 so far. All their woes boil down to one point: diversion of funds. The VMC has diverted their breadwinner’s contribution for the ESI, EPF etc. As a result, the respective organisations have denied them of benefits. The ESI authorities are not entertaining any medical cases. If they are to refer a patient to private hospitals, the ESI officials are insisting on authorisation letters from the corporation, they say.
CPI(M) city secretary Ch. Babu Rao says that the kin of the deceased are deprived of PF settlement, pension etc though their family head died long ago.
