HDMC auto tipper drivers have not received their dues in two months

Hubballi: Even though their payments are overdue, the auto tipper drivers in charge of collecting rubbish in these twin cities have not yet received their compensation.

More than 240 contractual drivers did not get their salaries between August 2020 and June 2023 as a result of the previous contracting agency they had worked for breaking its agreement and a lack of communication between the old and new contracting businesses and HDMC.

Chandrashekar Siragumpi, president of Karnataka Pragathi Para Tajya Sagisuva Vahana Chalakar Sangha, told TOI that payments were made to drivers and assistants who had gone on strike for seven months over unpaid wages in order to prevent things from getting out of hand.
After the payment debacle, HDMC recruited an outside firm and cancelled three bids. But that organisation also failed to promptly credit the tipper drivers’ salaries.
“We have asked the elected representatives and HDMC commissioner to expeditiously clear the auto tipper drivers’ and assistants’ salaries,” Siragumpi said.
Mahesh Kadam and Raghavendra Turavihal, two auto tipper drivers, claimed that their two months’ pay was still outstanding. “We are not sure why there is a payment delay, but this has put us in a terrible financial situation.” The executive engineer of HDMC’s solid waste management department, Mallikarjun BM, said that the company has hired a new contractor and instructed them to pay the outstanding salary as soon as possible.
He said that the labour department had also launched a case against the contractor and that HDMC had sent a warning to the company.