The employees decided to lock the PWD gate indefinitely, demanding release of pending 10-month salary.
TFM News Service
Casual and muster roll employees in the Public Works Department (PWD) have decided to lock the main gate of the department from Wednesday protesting against non-payment of their salary for 10 months. The protest will continue till the government paid heed to their demand, said the Coordinating Committee of PWD on Tuesday.
PWD’s casual and muster roll employees staged a sit-in demanding the release of their pending salary. Speaking at the sit-in, Joint Coordinating Committee of PWD president Tongbram Tikendrajit said it is unfortunate that PWD’s muster roll and casual employees have not been paid their salary since November 2020. These employees are getting Rs 6,000 – Rs 8,000 per month. They raised the matter with the Manipur chief minister repeatedly by submitting memorandums, he added.
Though muster roll, casual employees in Public Health Engineering Department Manipur (PHED), Minor Irrigation Department Manipur and Manipur Water Resources Department got their salary regularly, those in PWD were denied their salary. The attitude of the government made the lives of employees who depend on this meager salary miserable, he added.
He further said PWD’s casual and muster roll employees are not entitled to any other benefits. Being the employees, they cannot be the beneficiary of ration card and Chief Minister Hakselgi Tengbang (CMHT). These employees had a double whammy of non-payment of their meager monthly salary and denial of other benefits of the government’s schemes, he added.
He demanded regular payment and revision of salary for the casual and muster roll employees. He also demanded that like Imphal Municipal Corporation employees, muster roll and casual employees of PWD be given CMHT card and benefits during their treatment.