Count us in: ‘Ghost workers' of postal dept seek due benefits
The New Indian Express Chennai|December 03, 2021
FORTY-year-old Bhaskar* doesn’t take a leave or rather, he ‘can’t’.
C SHIVAKUMAR
Count us in: ‘Ghost workers' of postal dept seek due benefits

If he did, he won’t be paid that day by one of the state’s most prestigious employers — the postal department. But Bhaskar* isn’t the only one handed this raw deal. Thousands like him scratch a living under the peculiar title ‘Casual labourers and Outsider’ with the postal department.

“I earn only ₹410 a day. They (the department) make us do all the work but still won’t include us in the muster rolls,” says Bhaskar. While workers like him in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh enjoy the perks of Group D employees, (₹18,000 a month and government holidays, to name a few) these extra-departmental staff in Tamil Nadu are turned a nelson’s eye. “It was workers like us who worked tirelessly when demonetisation took place. We were asked to assist the postmaster in currency exchange. The department, however, disregarded our contributions and did not pay us,” Baskar said, adding that it was the epithet ‘outsiders’ that hurts the most.

This story is from the December 03, 2021 edition of The New Indian Express Chennai.

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This story is from the December 03, 2021 edition of The New Indian Express Chennai.

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