Firms fleece sanitary workers

Firms fleece sanitary workers
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Highlights

The workers who do not know about the law position that the outsourcing workers don’t come under the income tax purview didn’t object to it, it’s learnt. In the combined State of Andhra Pradesh, the salary of sanitary outsourcing workers is Rs 6,700 a month and it was raised to Rs 8,300 in the Telangana government.

Khammam: An appallingly massive scam that allegedly ripped off more than Rs 1.50 crore from the gullible sanitary workers of the Khammam Municipal Corporation (KMC) came to fore here suspecting the involvement of officials with the outsourcing agencies.The KMC has about 600 sanitary workers outsourced through a few private agencies. The moot point is that the agencies have been paying salaries to these workers deducting about Rs 200 in the name of income tax though they do not come under the ambit of tax. This has been in practice for over a decade now.

The workers who do not know about the law position that the outsourcing workers don’t come under the income tax purview didn’t object to it, it’s learnt. In the combined State of Andhra Pradesh, the salary of sanitary outsourcing workers is Rs 6,700 a month and it was raised to Rs 8,300 in the Telangana government. Against this backdrop, the new civic body of the KMC assumed the office in March. The alleged scam came to fore when the outsourcing agencies started to cut another Rs 200 in the name of income tax after the salaries of workers were raised by the government.

The Left wing leaders, who smell a rat by this development, approached the law agencies and found that outsourcing workers don not come under the ambit of income tax. Even if the income tax is deducted, the outsourcing agencies can claim it back by submitting a letter to the banks. AITUC Municipal Workers Union Khammam district secretary Manda Venkateswarlu said: “The outsourcing agencies in connivance with the KMC had been deceiving the workers since 2005. We took the issue to the notice of the District Collector DS Lokesh Kumar and Labour Commissioner.”

CITU divisional general secretary Thumma Vishnuvardhan demanded the authorities to recover the amount and pay it workers.Speaking to The Hans India, Mayor Guguloth Papalal said: “Nothing will be deducted from the salaries of the workers from this month. Though the problem didn’t happen during my time, I will try my level best to ensure justice to the workers.”

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