Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi has released ₹2 lakh from her funds for the families of each of the two sewage workers who died after getting into a manhole in Padmavathi Colony of Vanasthalipuram over a week ago.
Ms. Vijayalakshmi accompanied the member of the National Safai Karmachari Commission Anjana Panwar on her visit to the homes of the bereaved families on Wednesday, and handed over the cheques to them.
Already GHMC has released compensation of ₹10 lakh each to the families, apart from ₹5 lakh from the contractor of de-silting works who had engaged the workers on the fateful night.
Earlier in the day, she met officials from the GHMC and Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) and reviewed the measures taken for welfare of the Safai Karmacharis. Ms. Panwar directed the officials to provide rehabilitation to the workers engaged in manual scavenging, apart from financial support, special training, housing, medical and health facilities.
Questions about wage disparity between the sanitation workers of GHMC and HMWS&SB were raised during the meeting
Representatives of workers’ unions who claimed that they had not been intimated about the meeting, arrived and submitted a grievance to Ms. Panwar about the wages paid to the sewerage workers of the water board.
As per the revised minimum wages announced in June this year, the ‘unskilled’ labourers including sweepers and Safai Karmacharis should be paid a basic wage of ₹18,019 per month per head, they claimed.
However, sewerage workers of the water board are being paid only ₹11,870, which went against the Minimum Wages Act, president of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Employees’ Union U. Gopal claimed.
MD of HMWS&SB M. Dana Kishore rebutted the claims saying that the board kept up with the orders by the Labour & Employment department revising minimum wages from time to time.
He cited government orders specifying wages for four categories of sewage workers employed by the water board, ranging between ₹12,452 and ₹22,592, updated once in every six months by Variable Dearness Allowance points.
There are about 3,600 workers coming under the purview of the orders, working in STPs, WTPs, and Operation & Maintenance wings, he said.
Representatives from Safai Karmachari Andolan, Valmiki Mahasabha and Akhila Bharatiya Valmiki Sabha participated in the meeting along with the officials.
