Moneylife: Pune: Friday,
March 22, 2013.
RTI documents
procured by activists reveal that the high-profile BVG Kshitij engaged in
collection and disposal of municipal solid waste management in the
Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, has manipulated attendance records of
waste pickers for paying lower wages
BVG Kshitij
Waste Management Services Pvt Ltd has been hired by the Pimpri-Chinchwad
Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to carry out the work of door-to-door collection,
segregation and transportation of municipal solid waste in its B and C wards
for a period of five years from January 2012 to December 2016. The company
employs waste pickers affiliated to the local NGO, Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari
Panchayat (KKPKP).
As per the
rules for sweepers and scavengers and belled cart workmen in municipal
corporation limits, the daily wage structure is: 1 July 2012 to 31 December
2012: Rs240.52 per day (Rs6,253.75 per month); 1 January 2013 to 30 June 2013:
Rs 254.06 per day (Rs6,605.50 per month). Besides these minimum wages, they are
entitled to statutory benefits like House Rent Allowance @ 5% of their minimum
wages, as well as employer’s PF and ESI contribution @ 12% of minimum wages and
4.75% of gross wages, respectively.
The waste
collection work in Wards B and C is to be undertaken with deployment of 313
helpers on the waste collection vehicles, each of them operating for 30 or 31
days per month. “Hence, the total number of worker days required for B and C
wards as per the agreement is 9,390 and 9,703 respectively”, states Lakshmi
Narayan, general secretary of KKPKP.
However,
since the last four months, KKPKP has repeatedly brought to the notice of the
PCMC authorities that workers under the waste collection contractors in PCMC
were being paid wages between Rs50 and Rs100 per day instead of Rs254
stipulated under the Minimum Wages Act. While the PCMC attendance records maintained
at the ward level shows that workers are being paid the right amount of Rs254
per day, the worker days attendance and wage register maintained by BVG showed
a major discrepancy. In the sample taken by the labour department of 70
workers, the record showed that while all of them had worked between 28 to 30
or 31 days as per the PCMC record, the BVG record showed that they worked only
between 11-18 days. Salaries were given as per the BVG record which therefore
came to around an abysmal Rs50 to Rs100 per day.
To further
prove this discrepancy by BVG, the KKPKP invoked the Right to Information (RTI)
Act. A sample of three months’ attendance/ operation record procured by
Moneylife from KKPKP shows that in April 2012, the PCMC attendance record is 7,674
worker days whereas BVG records show it as 4,780 worker days. In May 2012, PCMC
records attendance of 7,903 workers days for the month as per its wage records
while BVG’s document shows 4,759. In August 2012, the PCMC records attendance
of 8,312 worker days as per its daily attendance/operation records while BVG’s
documents shows only 4,739.
Harshad
Barde, member of KKPKP is the one who has systematically and painstakingly
collated information under the RTI Act. Explaining how BVG managed to fudge the
records, Barde states, “The attendance records kept by PCMC show very low
absenteeism of workers. But the records maintained for payment of minimum wages
to the workers under the Minimum Wages Act show much lower worker attendance.
The discrepancy between the two attendance records is around 4,000 man days of
work per month for around 14 months. The actual payment to workers has been
done on the basis of falsified attendance records showing that each of them has
worked for around 10-12 days per month to make the wages correspond, while they
have actually worked for a full month.”
Narayan
states that, “Preliminary calculations reveal that the discrepancy in payment
made to all wastepickers for the past 14 months will be to the tune of
Rs3,20,00,000. This does not include the amounts rightfully due to drivers and
other employees of the contractors. The wages calculated as per actual days of
work attended are as low as Rs30 for an eight-hour work day.”
KKPKP brought
this matter to the notice of the Labour Department, Pune, which corroborated
the complaints in its Inspection carried out on 22 February 2013. In the
presence of the Labour Inspector, PCMC authorities committed to withholding
payment to BVG Kshitij till they verified the actual wages paid out to the
workers, says Narayan.
Ratnadeep
Hendre, Additional Labour Commissioner, observed that the PCMC being the
principal employer, should look into the matter of ensuring due payments to
workers and that claims should be filed by all waste pickers for unpaid dues
since 1 January 2012. The PCMC though
has yet to take any action.
Informs
Narayan about the labour department’s inspection, “Attendance records
maintained by the PCMC at the ward level for the month of February were
compared with the wage register of the BVG and the attendance records of
workers purported there. This was done in the presence of officials from the
Health Department and the Labour Department of the PCMC. The discrepancies are
glaring. Information compiled for 70 workers (data for all wards was not available)
show discrepancies of between 10 and 23 days in a 28 day month per worker with
an amount of between Rs2,500 and Rs5,800 owed to each of them for just the
month of February!”
With the PCMC
mum on this matter, over 150 waste pickers of KKPKP peacefully protested
against this injustice early this week. It has made the following demands to
the PCMC:
1.
Workers
be paid the difference in wages paid to them and those that are statutorily due
to them for the month of February, before the 31 March 2013.
2.
Workers
claim forms for: a. Payment of the difference in wages paid to them and those
that were statutorily due to them for the period between January 2012 and
January 2013, b. Payment for House Rental Allowance in respect of such
difference in payment, c. Employers and Employees Contribution for EPF and ESI
in respect of such difference in payment, should be settled before 31 May 2013,
along with interest and compensation in
the nature of punitive damages.
3.
Wage
Slip- cum-Daily Attendance cards and protective gear be issued to workers
immediately and regularly.
4.
All
future payments to contractors should be made contingent upon verification of
payments to workers, in presence of an appointed PCMC official, against
attendance records maintained by the PCMC and attendance cards issued to the
workers.
5.
All
payments should be made to bank accounts as mandated by law and not through Pay
Direct Cards.
6.
Workers
should be allowed paid weekly days of rest as required under the Minimum Wages
Act.
7.
Workers
should be allowed paid national/state/local holidays as required under the
Contract Labour Act.
8.
No
worker should be terminated without justification and show-cause notice as is
mandated by the Contract Labour Act.
9.
Future
contracts involving labour should have stricter monitoring and enforcement
systems for ensuring compliance of labour laws by contractors, as also severe
penal clauses leading to termination, blacklisting, punitive
damages/compensation, etc. for such non-compliance.
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