Gurugram bus conductors not paid wages in over a month

Seventy-two bus conductors currently enrolled with the Gurugaman city bus service have not yet been paid wages for their service between July 27 and September 7.

More than a dozen conductors, who spoke to the Hindustan Times on the condition of anonymity, said they had little clarity on how much they will be paid, and when, despite repeated pleas with authorities concerned.

“We were told that our payment for work between July 27 and August 6 would come on August 7. Later, we were promised that these wages would be paid along with our next salary, on September 7. Now even that date has passed and we have no idea when our money will come,” said one conductor on Sunday.

The Gurugaman bus service was flagged off on September 2 by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and has been operational for
a week.

However, the present batch of conductors had been enrolled in July by Skylark, an ‘urban management’ agency, contracted to provide labourers to the Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL).

Of about 250 applicants who appeared for an online test on July 22, 72 conductors were shortlisted, formally enrolled on July 27, and then made to undergo a two-day training course at the Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Gurugram on July 30 and 31. “Since then, we’ve spent a month twiddling our thumbs. We were called to the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority’s offices all through August and made to wait for hours, with no work. But we were told we would be paid for our time,” one conductor said.

During their enrolment, candidates had been offered a salary of ₹14,610 per month (after deductions for provident fund and medical benefits), according to Ravinder Kumar, Skylark’s branch manager in Gurugram. As per the original tender floated by the GMCBL, however, their salaries were fixed at ₹20,000 per month (including provident fund and medical benefits).

According to Ritu, depot manager, GMCBL , the salaries have been stuck due to “first month problems.”

She added that the salary amounts for conductors were “not clearly defined, but they will end up receiving between ₹18,000 and ₹19,000 per month.”

Ritu, the depot manager who goes by her first name only, said there had been no problems so far in processing her salary.

Since September 2, conductors have been working 10 to 11 hour shifts. “Our shift should be of eight hours, but we are asked to arrive an hour earlier and are discharged an hour after our shift officially ends, as we are made to tally ticket sales. We don’t even get any overtime,” said a conductor who belongs to Rewari.

“We are also informed about our shifts at extremely short notice. If anyone can’t make it, they deduct money citing absenteeism,” he added.

Several conductors also said that they have not yet received appointment letters, and complained that the cost of their uniforms would be adjusted from their salaries, which they had not been informed about in advance.

Subhash Budania, also a depot manager contracted through Skylark, said that the conductors’ salaries have been delayed due to irregular paperwork on the conductors’ part. “They still have to submit their proper documentation and do police verification first,” he said.

Skylark’s Ravinder Yadav said that he was willing to dispatch salaries the moment the final amounts were approved by the GMCBL. “The delay is on their (GMCBL) part, not ours. We will be meeting Arun Sharma, general manager of administration at GMCBL, this week to decide on the further course of action,” he added.

Chander Shekhar Khare, CEO, GMCBL, said that salaries would be disbursed soon. “We will release their wages. The payment system is being set up,” he said.

The GMCBL is yet to introduce digital ticketing services for passengers, which were slated to be rolled out on September 10 after being initially postponed from September 7.

Last Friday, GMCBL officials had said that the company was working with partner banks to expedite the process. On Sunday, GMCBL’s general manager of administration, Arun Sharma, confirmed that the move had been delayed further.

“The matter is in the pipeline as the bank concerned may take some more time. They are on the job,” he said, without providing a specific date for the launch of the service.

The GMCBL’s digital ticketing system will allow commuters to pay for their journeys via digital wallets, debit cards and smart-cards. The service operator has partnered with both private and state banks, as well as the National Payments Corporation of India, to process these transactions. For now, commuters have to pay in cash only.