Hundreds of sanitation and other workers of GHMC could not draw their salaries from the bank, owing to alleged high-handedness shown by the police, inside the GHMC headquarters.
According to eye-witness accounts, the SBI branch inside the GHMC premises on Tank Bund was teeming with employees on Monday morning who arrived to withdraw their monthly pay, as is wont every month. However, the mandatory distance to be observed in view of COVID-19 spread was absent, as the turnout was huge, extending into thousands. Sensing unruly situation, the police present at the location tried to disperse the crowds and resorted to lathicharge, workers alleged.
“We have been working day and night braving disease, and death, still we are not allowed to draw our salaries. It was the duty of the officials to ensure proper queue with distancing, but they failed to do that. Alternatively, they could have issued tokens with dates on which we could come and collect the salaries,” said Padma, a sanitation worker who could not draw her salary.
Retired employees too are due to arrive and collect their pensions from the bank, and proper arrangements should be made, workers demanded.