EDMC doctor gets notice for taking salary complaint to CM

NEW DELHI: The east corporation has threatened to initiate disciplinary action against any employee who complains on service matters to a higher authority other than the departmental head. Following the circular, the corporation has also issued a show-cause notice to a doctor for forwarding a complaint on non-payment of salary for three months to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

All employees, including top officials, of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) are usually paid late by months. For the past three months, the corporation hasn’t even paid its doctors, engineers, administrative officials and senior executives.

“To pay monthly bills, I borrow money from my elder brother. As I have to take money every month, the situation has become uncomfortable. No salaried person who doesn’t face such a situation can imagine the stress I am going through,” said a senior official. It is the common story of all group A and B officials. Even the teachers receive salaries at an interval of two-three months.

EDMC has around 30,000 employees, 20,000 of them sanitation workers, and has to clear an average monthly wage bill of Rs 170 crore. However, its annual income is just Rs 1,400 crore, which translates into a monthly average of Rs 116 crore. To bridge the gap, the corporation depends on grants from Delhi government, which is also often delayed.

Protests by sanitation workers over non-payment of salaries have almost become a regular feature while senior officials, smaller in numbers, have to go through regular stress and some of them often end up writing to the higher authorities for a solution.

However, EDMC has said in the circular that “the practice is against the Government of India instructions on the issue and a violation of conduct rules. All officers are advised to refrain from sending application to other ministry, department or state government bypassing the prescribed channel of submission or face disciplinary action”. The departmental heads have been told to circulate the message among the subordinates.

According to the personnel & training department guidelines, representations from officials should be forwarded through the immediate superior official or departmental head.