UP: Unpaid Since 6 Months, RML Lucknow Security Guards Not Able to Pay Room Rent

Lucknow: Security guards at the state government-run Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS), Lucknow, have not been paid salaries for the past six months. They also allege several irregularities and discrepancies in the mode of payment of salaries.

The hospital has a total of 43 security guards, including seven women. According to an employee, they had last received their salary in June. Despite repeated requests, they had not still been paid the dues, he said.

The employees who haven’t been getting their salary said they had not been able to pay their house rent for three months. “I am originally from Purvanchal region but stay in Lucknow on rent. In the initial months, when my salary was held, I paid the rent from my savings. But these have dried up now. My landlord understands my situation but keeps asking me about the rent every now and then. I feel insulted,” a guard told NewsClick on the condition of anonymity. 

The security personnel are employed by the Apnatech Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd and work at the hospital through the agency. Officials of the agency said that the bills sent to the hospital have not been cleared so they are unable to pay their employees. The hospital authorities say that these bills have been cleared by the state government.

"Our salaries have not been paid since June. The salary we get is also much less than what we are supposed to get. We get Rs 10,000, after which PF and ESI are also deducted. According to the rules, we should be getting an increment every six months which we have never got since we started serving at Lohia Hospital," Pradeep Yadav, a security guard told NewsClick, adding that the state government is not concerned about their sufferings.

"This is not the first time that we have been facing this issue. It has become a normal routine. The government has made a mockery of the Wages Act and has never released our salary in time,” he added.

Sanatan, another security guard posted at Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences by the agency, said: "I have not been paid salary for the last three months. I was not able to pay the rent of Rs 2,500 to my landlord and so was forced to spend the night at the OPD gate of the hospital without a blanket. My landlord asked me to either clear all the pending dues or vacate the room. 

The immediate concern of these outsourced security guards was where will they get another job to feed their families. Guards who earned less than Rs 10,000 per month, said their savings were too little to run the household even for a month.

The guards said they also wrote a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, demanding the release of pending salaries.

"The administration has been promising us that it will clear our dues for the past three months. If nothing changes, we will stop reporting for duty,” said one of the guards. 

NewsClick called Soniya Nityanand, the director of the Ram Manohar Lohia for a comment but there was no response till the time of publishing this report.