Ballarpur lotting gang workers get five months' dues before Diwali

Lotting gang workers in Ballarpur in Chandrapur district had to wait months for their wages. It has now been reported that their pending dues have been paid. The workers work at the transport and marketing department depot in Ballarpur. Their wages from April to August, a full five months, had been withheld.

Dussehra too passed without wages. Workers and their families were worried that Diwali might also pass in darkness. The lack of money had cast a shadow of financial hardship over their homes. The workers were preparing to take the path of agitation.

In the meantime, the workers told BJP Kamgar Morcha state general secretary Ajay Dubey about their trouble. Dubey immediately placed the matter before MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar. The matter was then pursued at the government level.

Mungantiwar is reported to have written to Forest Minister Ganesh Naik. He also spoke over the phone to Mr Khandare, Additional Chief Secretary of the Forest Department. In both places he demanded that the pending wages from April to August be paid immediately. He also pressed that the wages for September and October be paid on time.

Following this effort, the pending wages have been received from the government. The workers' families have got major financial relief just before Diwali. For the workers who had waited months for their money, the wait is now over.

Speaking of the spirit in which Mungantiwar took up the matter, it is said that the money earned by workers' labour is their right, and that the joy in their homes at festival time should not be taken away by a shortage of money. He took up the issue thinking that children's Diwali should not be dimmed.

For workers, it is as important to be paid on time as it is to get work. Their children's education, the household kitchen and the family's small and big needs are met from these wages. If there is no money in hand at festival time, the joy at home fades. With the dues now received, the families of these Ballarpur workers have got relief before Diwali.