New Delhi : Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal won’t celebrate Diwali on Sunday — in solidarity with her employees who have been denied salary.
“We are being punished for doing good work,” a frustrated sounding Maliwal, 32, said in an interview, a day after revealing that the Member Secretary had stopped salaries of all contractual staff. “Whenever I enter my office, I feel a lot of guilt when those 90 people who have not been paid salaries look at me,” Maliwal told IANS. “I feel helpless as I cannot do anything about it.” According to Maliwal, Member Secretary Alka Diwan, appointed in the DCW by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on October 7, had refused to release two months salary of the contractual staff.
Maliwal dubbed Diwan’s appointment as illegal, saying she was the VAT Commissioner and doing part time work in the DCW. In the process the DCW’s autonomy was being undermined. Many of those who work on contract at the DCW are women who have been victims of acid attacks and even orphans.
“If I am not able to get salaries for acid attack victims, dowry harassment victims and orphan girls who work with me, how will I be able to celebrate Diwali? I am very hurt and dejected due to this.
“They work very hard and have families to support. They have not been paid for two months. Their Diwali is ruined. So how can I celebrate mine?” Maliwal asked. What intrigues Maliwal is that she did not appoint all these employees — and they never faced this situation earlier. “Some contractual employees have been working for the Commission for the last 20 years. And yet salaries of all the contractual employees have been stopped.
“It is the first time salaries of employees of DCW, which is an autonomous body, have been stopped. If it has never happened before, why is it happening now?” This is not the first time Maliwal has run into problems with the central government, represented by Jung.
