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BJP leader Yogesh Sagar has raised a concern regarding Provident Fund for BEST employees and cleaners in Mumbai. He has written a letter to Bhupendra Yadav, Union Minister for Labour and Employment in this matter.
The BJP leader in his letter said, some officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) along with the contractors are ‘plundering’ the hard-earned money of the said public transport service workers and cleaners.
“This money rightfully belongs to these workers and their families. The officials of BMC, by manipulating private contractors, are squandering the provident fund of these BEST employees and cleaners and are thus playing with the lives of these workers and their future,” excerpts from Sagar’s letter read.
He also alleged that contract cleaners Provident Fund has been scammed to the tune of INR 190 Crore while BEST Employees Provident Fund has been scammed to the tune of INR 6.5 Crore.
“Since the year 2009, BMC has recruited around 6500 contract workers. The provident fund of these workers was not deposited, neither were they given a PF number. From the year 2009 till now, INR 3,80,000/- (Three Lakh Eighty Thousand) per worker should have been deposited in their PF account. However, neither the PF number was generated nor were the funds deposited. The question of where this INR 190 Crore of 6,500 workers went remains unanswered. These workers have continuously raised their voices on the said issue but the Municipal Corporation and the contractors did not pay heed, nor did they give any clarification,” Sagar said.
“In May 2018, Mr Rajesh Kumar, Principal Secretary, Department of Labour, had directed that full details of workers provident fund should be received within a fortnight and attendance & salary sheets should be received within three days. He had also instructed that early action should be taken against the non-accumulation of salary in the provident fund. However, no action has been taken to date and the Municipal Commissioner has not even taken notice of the same. This proves that a large corrupt chain of local administration and contractors is working under the behest of their seniors,” the BJP leader alleged.
Under the pretext of provident funds, a deduction of about INR 1500 per month per employee has been made, which means, in just 6 months INR 1.20 crore has been looted from these workers. Besides, the employees have not received their salaries for the last 3 months which amounts to INR 5 Crore.
He has requested the Union Minister to investigate the matter, “I urge and request you that this provident fund scam should be thoroughly investigated and strict legal action should be taken and criminal charges should be filed against those involved in it. This should be enquired and rooted out so that the system of corruption does not re-emerge and the hard earned money of these workers reach their accounts”.
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