Another worker not paid, another death

Hundreds of employees of the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) have been sitting on a dharna protesting against the death of an employee due...

Hundreds of employees of the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) have been sitting on a dharna protesting against the death of an employee due to non-payment of salary.

On Friday, employees kept the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) A.B. Prasad captive in his office for five hours alleging that 32-year-old Surendra Manjhi died because he did not have enough money to get treatment after he fell ill.

They said Manjhi caught a cold while working in an underground sewage tunnel and was unable to get treatment since he had not been paid. In the past eight months, according to the cleaners’ association, they have received only Rs 3,000 each as salary and the PMC still owes them six months’ salary in back payments.

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‘‘His wife and three children survive Manjhi,’’ said union general secretary Ram Charan Singh, pointing out that the union now wants Majhi’s arrears be disbursed to his widow.

Manjhi’s widow Munnia said the family never got to eat proper meals.

‘‘He used to work underground. He went down one day and caught a cold. He just died. We didn’t have money for his treatment,’’ she said. ‘‘I haven’t got anything from the government.’’

RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav had asked that Rs 20,000 be released to the widow, but Munnia said she didn’t know anything about it. PMC CEO A.B. Prasad said the employee had not died due to non-payment of salary.