MCC drivers stage flash protest for salary

It was a dark Deepavali for the families of 150 drivers recruited on contract basis at the Mysore City Corporation (MCC), on Friday, when their hopes of receiving salaries, which has been due for two months, was dashed again.

Following this, the drivers staged a flash protest in front of the city corporation office on New Sayyaji Rao road, demanding the disbursal of their salaries at the earliest. The stir affected daily waste collection and disposal, that was delayed for three hours.

In all, 99 drivers of auto tippers, 30 container lorries and 25 other types of vehicles deployed for the job, gathered in front of the corporation building on New Sayyaji Rao road at 8 am, waiting for the contractor identified as Venkatesh (who had secured the contract in the name of his son Manjunath) to distribute the salaries for the month of August and September. When he failed to arrive,  some among them sat on a stir demanding salaries.

Learning about the protest, BJP Corporator H N Nandeesh Preetham and Health Officer Dr D G Nagaraj arrived on the spot, followed by Venkatesh. The corporator and the officials took Venkatesh to task, who in turn blamed the Corporation for pending bills.
The MCC officials present at the spot, who refused to buy the reasoning, reminded Venkatesh of the riders of the contract that mandates the successful bidder to pay the salaries within the stipulated period every month, without waiting for the clearance of the bill.

The officials also reminded Venkatesh that he was paying lesser than the quoted amount as salary to drivers and their helpers. While the drivers were entitled for a salary of Rs 7,600, Venkatesh was paying them less at Rs 6,100. The helpers were getting Rs 5,750. Besides he had failed to remit the salary deducted towards the provident fund (PF) from the past five months.

The officials who later facilitated the talks between the agitators and the contractor, succeeded in brokering the truce as the latter agreed to pay the salaries on Monday (October 27).

MCC Commissioner Dr C G Betsurmath told Deccan Herald, the resentment among the contractor and the labourers led to the protest. “The contractor has been repeatedly erring by not submitting the bills on time. Such erroneous acts won’t be tolerated,” he said.