More than 150 employees of the Udhagamandalam Municipality (UMC) struck work and staged a protest outside the municipal office on Wednesday, alleging that their salaries have been unpaid for the last two months.
The protesters told the presspersons that more than 700 employees of the UMC were yet to receive their salaries for September and October. “All of us have families who depend on our income to run the household. We have approached the UMC Commissioner on multiple occasions requesting that our salaries be paid on time,” said one of the protesters.
They also alleged that the municipality had delayed their salaries on several occasions over the last six months. “Other benefits, such as Provident Fund, too have not been paid to many of our staffers,” the protesters said.
“Even today, the UMC Commissioner refused to meet us while we were protesting and work out a compromise,” they alleged.
Municipality Commissioner R. Saraswati said in a statement that the issue had already been “cleared” and that the salaries of sanitary workers was disbursed following the protests. Another top UMC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the COVID-19 was partly to blame for the delay in the payment of salaries, with UMC finances being stretched due to the pandemic.
