PAYMENT OF 130 DAYS’ REMUNERATION PENDING FOR SEASONAL IRRIGATION WORKERS

PAYMENT OF 130 DAYS’ REMUNERATION PENDING FOR SEASONAL IRRIGATION WORKERS

15-MARCH-ENG 3

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA-------------------------Hundreds of seasonal irrigation workers, employed as daily-wage laborers within the Irrigation Department, rarely receive their remuneration on time, a situation that frequently plunges them into financial crisis. The services of these workers are not regularized; the Irrigation Department engages their labor only during the agricultural season, when the supply of water through canals becomes essential. Departmental regulations stipulate that these workers are to be paid remuneration solely for the specific number of days they have actually worked. The irony lies in the fact that these laborers—who toil day and night to facilitate the delivery of canal water to the fields—do not even receive payment commensurate with the actual number of days they have worked. Departmental officials invariably contrive some excuse or another to deduct amounts from their remuneration. To make matters worse, the failure to disburse payments on time compounds their plight. According to seasonal irrigation workers currently stationed in Piro, the remuneration for 130 days of work performed during the previous Kharif season remains unpaid to date. This situation has created dire circumstances for them, bordering on starvation. The affected seasonal irrigation workers have appealed to senior officials of the Water Resources Department to ensure the immediate disbursement of their pending remuneration.