Woman brings petrol bottle over unpaid salary

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Contract-based employees working under the Municipal Corporation have not received their salaries for the past five months, leaving them in a desperate situation. On Tuesday, a woman employee carried a bottle of petrol to the office of Maharana, a private agency located at Naralibag, in protest over the pending salaries. However, she did not attempt self-immolation. Officials present at the scene managed to calm her down and sent her home.

A dispute has been ongoing for several months between the Municipal Corporation and the private agency Maharana. The Municipal Administrator had already halted the agency’s operations, and its workers were reassigned to two other agencies. Despite this, Maharana failed to pay its workers’ salaries for three months. Employees have been repeatedly visiting the agency’s office demanding payment.

On Tuesday afternoon, employee Gaurav Chavariya and his wife went to the Naralibag office seeking her pending salary. During the discussion, Gaurav requested that his wife’s salary be released. While the talks were ongoing, the woman suddenly took out a bottle of petrol. The matter, however, ended there after further discussion.

Meanwhile, agency owner Vishwanath Rajput stated, “We have already paid two months’ salary from our own pockets. How can we pay for the remaining two months when the Municipal Corporation has not released funds for July, August, and September? The work has been stopped, and even our bills haven’t been cleared. We prepare the workers’ salary sheets; the Corporation should directly deposit the amount into their bank accounts,” he added.