The Hindu : New Delhi News : MTNL employee alleges harassment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 20, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

MTNL employee alleges harassment

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JUNE 19. Hari Ram, a phone mechanic with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), is "literally" jobless for the past seven months. "Questioning his superiors" for not following certain prescribed duty procedures resulted in his getting transferred from his previous posting but he was not allowed to resume duty at the new place. The result: he has failed to get his salary for the past seven months.

"Even an employee who is suspended from his job gets 50 per cent of his salary. But I am being victimised by my bosses for not succumbing to their pressures to cover up their faults," said Hari Ram, alleging that the Assistant General Manager (Administration), H.K. Popli, and the Sub-Divisional Officer, Anil Kumar, under whom he served last, were victimising him.

"For 17 months I was posted in North Block where I often used to do overtime without being paid for it. Interestingly, in that office there was no attendance register and those employed there, in connivance with the officer in-charge, Mr. Kumar, used to go on long leaves without marking their absence and were even paid for that period. In gross violation of the service rules, I also got paid for the same period without marking my attendance," he alleged.

According to the MTNL employee, as staff mostly remained "absent", he used to do overtime but never got paid for it. "But when I asked not to put me on overtime and also demanded money I had earned for extra working hours, Mr. Kumar approached Mr. Popli and got me transferred. As it was a ploy to harass me, I was relieved forcibly and was not allowed to join the office where I was transferred as officials concerned there stated that my transfer letter had many lapses."

So when he approached Mr. Popli to get the transfer order corrected, he asked him to write an undertaking that he had signed the attendance register when he served under Mr. Kumar, alleged Hari Ram, adding, "But when I refused, he asked Mr. Kumar to charge him under various sections of the service rules. As I was unable to join office, I started going to Mr. Popli's office every day and hand his staff a reminder which is not only proof of my attendance but also the amount of harassment that I have been facing."

Till now, Hari Ram has written to all senior MTNL officials and ministers but to no avail. "I am a clear victim of high-handedness of senior officials. I am ready to fight it out till the end but I am helpless as my family is facing a major financial crisis. To survive in Delhi without getting paid for the past seven months is no joke. And if something happens to my family, senior MTNL officials will be solely responsible for it," he lamented.

When contacted, Mr. Popli refused to talk about the issue.

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