Hundreds of casual labourers employed at various departments in University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur (UAS-R) staged a demonstration at Tipu Sulthan Gardens near the office of Deputy Commissioner here on Friday demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the “misappropriation of funds” at the University in the name of wage payment.
The agitating activists, with red flags, raised slogans against the University authorities for “meting out injustice to casual labourers for the last several years”. They alleged that they had found huge irregularities in disbursing wages between May 2009 and August 2014 when Dr. B.V. Patil was Vice-Chancellor, Dr. D.B. Biradar was Registrar and Dr. B.S. Janagoudar was Director of Research.
“The documents show that a sum of Rs. 25.45 crores has been paid to casual labourers as wages between May 2009 and August 2014. Though labourers worked only for eight months a year during the period, they were shown as paid for 11 months in the documents,” Mr. R. Manasayya, Honorary President of the UAS-R Casual Labourers Association, alleged. He demanded for a CBI probe into the issue.
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He also alleged that Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act, Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, Employees' Provident Fund Act, The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act and other labourer laws were not being followed in the University.
“As per Minimum Wages Act, the workers are supposed to be paid at Rs. 269 a day. However, they paid only at Rs. 192 a day. The deductions made in labourers’ wages for provident fund were not deposited in the accounts of concerned labourers. Payslips are not given to labourers,” he said. He warned that the casual labourers would have to intensify struggles if they would not get justice.
T. Basavaraj Yadav, Prabhuraya and other labour leaders were present.
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