According to authorities, only 8 employees' salary was withheld for non-compliance of basic details for employment. While In a couple of cases salary was not credited to the account of the person for want of correct details of Bank account furnished by employees.
On Social media, many people are claiming that the employees of Statue of Unity haven't been paid their salary for the last 3-4 months. A Facebook user Mohammed Basheer shared a report in the group "The Indian Liberals" with the message:
"Staff servicing the world’s tallest statue have gone on strike over unpaid wages barely six months after it was opened to huge fanfare by India’s prime minister.
In a dispute that critics say epitomises Narendra Modi’s failure to tackle a national jobs crisis, about a hundred workers at the Statue of Unity site have downed tools and formed a human chain around the 182m (600ft) landmark. They have not been paid for four months".
TheTimes.co.uk has reported that has employees of Statue of unity have gone on strike over the unpaid dues. Many individual users are making this claim on social media and blaming the government. You can see all such posts on Facebook here.
A Facebook user Lata Tauro thinks this is happening because either the Statue of Unity is not generating enough revenue of the Modi govt is diverting the funds to its own coffers.
On investigation, we found that it was first reported by Gujarat Daily Divya Bhaskar on 10th March. The report was widely shared on social media.
Here is the rough translation of the report: (rough translation with the help of Google translate)
The employees of the UDS company working in the contract in the Statue of Unity have been on strike for three months due to the salaries. He stopped the work and sat on the road to make a heavy accolade. He alleged that private operators were exploiting local employees.
Employees working on security, retaining, gardening, cleaning, lift man, ticket checking at the statue, and giving irregular salary to the UDS company, have made it difficult for their family to manage. Employees are waiting for salary for the last 3 months. Over 100 employees of the company have been suspended on the sudden strike. However, the company's officials had to run for a salary. Over 100 employees organized a sutra against the company sitting on the public road.
Citing this report, a pro-congress website Khabarbar.com published a report with the claim that no salaries have been paid to employees of Sardar Patel Statue for the past three months.
News Central 24x7 published the same report citing Divya Bhaskar. Similar reports were also shared on Dail Hunt as well. Another website NewsClick.in also published the report to claim that over 100 employees at the site have reportedly not been paid for the past three months and are now resorting to a strike to draw the attention of the apathetic state government.
Khabarbar.com received the below clarification from the authorities at Statue of Unity :
1] Out of around 300 employees employed by UDS for various tasks of Statue of Unity, the salary of only 8 employees’ salary was with withheld technically for non-compliance of basic details for employment.
2] In a couple of cases salary was not credited to the account of the person for want of correct details of Bank account furnished by employees.
3] Notwithstanding the above facts it was unfortunate on the part of UDS for this delay and proper explanation is called from them.
4] It is well ensured that all employees taken by various agencies are paid salaries and wages equivalent to Govt. regulations. They are, besides basic salary, provided all emoluments like Leave Salary, Provident Fund, Bonus Salary, Medical facilities for them and their families etc.
The employees at the Statue of Unity work for a company named Updater Services Ltd (UDS). Workers have alleged that they are being exploited by the agency and formed a human chain near the statue to mark their protest. As per a report by LallanTop, the issue has been resolved by the authorities and all the workers have now returned to their work.
As per India Today's Gujarat Bureau Chief Gopi Maniyar, these are the contractual employees who were demanding salary hike from last three months. Some of them were being given half of their salary while some of them were not getting the salary at all. He has not given the actual count of the employees who was no getting their salary but according to authorities, only 8 employees' salary was withheld for non-compliance of basic details for employment. While In a couple of cases salary was not credited to the account of the person for want of correct details of Bank account furnished by employees.
Hence, the media reports that over 100 employees haven't received their salary from the past three-four months are false.
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