Commercial tax dept outsourcing employees unpaid for 7 months

 Hyderabad: Outsourcing employees, who number about 95, in the commercial tax department (CTD) have complained they have not been paid for periods ranging from two months to seven months for different personnel.

The staff, who work as data entry operators, drivers and cleaners, said their jobs were not secure and their employment depended on the whims of the outsourcing company and senior officials.

“With no ID card and not being registered as employees, we can’t question the authorities. We are forced to borrow money to pay for our expenses,” said an outsourcing employee. “We have had to withdraw money from our Provident Fund deposits.”

The employees said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had promised to do away with the outsourcing system during the Telangana agitation but the system is still being continued.

“We joined without fully understanding that we stood no chance of being absorbed into permanent service. There were 185 outsourcing employees but many were discontinued after the department recruited permanent staff. We had hoped that we would get some weightage during recruitment but it was not so,” an employee said.

The employees claimed the outsourcing policy was against a Supreme Court judgment which, they said, guaranteed equal pay for equal work.

An employee said a new permanent employee would get higher pay than he was getting after more than 15 years. “My salary is Rs 19,500 and I get Rs17,470 after the ESI and professional tax are cut,” an employee lamented.

A driver said the department had not paid for the vehicles that it had hired for seven months. “Many of us are owner-drivers. For a fixed payment of Rs 34,000 per month, we have pay all the expenses including fuel,” said a driver. “I had to barter my wife’s jewellery to see me through.”

The driver said they would join a scheduled protest by the Telangana State Taxi Drivers JAC on Tuesday, seeking early payment as well as press for their other demands, he added.