Retired Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) employees have been forced to stage protests multiple times due to the negligence of the administration which has been reluctant to pay leave encashment of retired employees. On Thursday, around 200 hundred employees conducted a silent protest at the PMPML office in Swargate.
Around 2,300 retired employees are suffering due to this situation. Despite multiple requests to the PMPML administration for the outstanding remuneration from 2017, including immediate payment of gratuity, leave encashment and other remuneration, no permanent solution has been provided to the ex-employees.
Jafar Bhai Jamadar, who retired from the controller and checker post, speaking to The Free Press Journal said, "This has been going on for the last seven years, but the authorities have turned a blind eye. We are retired senior citizens with no other option for income. We get a pension of provident funds that is approximately ₹3,000-4,000, which is very low for survival. Seven years have passed, and administrations has not reached any conclusion so far, which shows the negligence."
Ashok Balve, a retired bus conductor, who is heading the protest, expressed, "It is shameful for the administration to withhold our rightful money. We gave our hundred per cent to the administration during our service. Staging protests is a challenge for us at this age. If contractual employees are regularly getting their funds and salaries on time, then why the same rules are not applied for us? We request the authority to take quick action and provide our pending funds as soon as possible."
Raja Utari, a former fitter, highlighted, "Our medical expenses have increased in this age due to illness. We are only asking for our pending money, nothing extra. During the last protest, we were promised that we would get our pending money before Diwali. Still, we remain unaware of any developments, and no funds have been released by the PMPML."
Commenting on the issue, Nitin Narvekar, Joint Managing Director of PMPML, said, "We have received their applications and the proposal has been forwarded to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The pending funds amount is very high and has not been approved by PMC, leading to delays in transferring the amount of retired employees. However, we are looking into the matter and soon we will reach a conclusion."
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