Alappuzha (Keralam) | Four to five months without salaries had left a group of Kudumbashree workers under the Tourism Department in Alappuzha waiting for their wages, until Union Minister Suresh Gopi stepped in and offered to pay Rs 32 lakh from his own account if technical hurdles delayed the government payment.
The money was eventually sanctioned and paid by the government after Gopi intervened in the matter, according to a Facebook post by the union minister.
Gopi said his decision to offer the money was driven by one concern -- that the workers and their families should not go hungry during the Onam season.
"With the sole intention of ensuring that their families did not go hungry during the Onam season, I was prepared to pay Rs 32 lakh in advance from my own account and clear the salary arrears if the technical hurdles continued to delay the process," he said.
The episode came to public attention after a video of women workers complaining to Gopi about the delayed salaries went viral on social media.
Gopi offered to pay Rs 32 lakh from his own account to clear their salary arrears, saying the amount could be reimbursed to him once the government sanctioned the funds for their wages.
The union minister said that after a meeting in Alappuzha, while he was travelling to Kollam, his office repeatedly contacted the authorities seeking the workers’ account details.
"Finally, I directly spoke to the Alappuzha District Collector," he said.
The Collector told him that the government had urgently intervened in the matter and sanctioned the amount, Gopi said.
According to the Tourism Director’s report, the money would reach the employees on time, he added.
For Gopi, the issue was not about who paid the workers.
"I have no insistence that I should be the one to pay the money. My greatest happiness is not in who provided it, but in knowing whether the rightful fruits of the hard work of those poor workers reached their hands properly during this Onam season," he said.
The minister also said he understood the difficulties faced by the treasury and the administrative pressures involved, and said he did not intend to blame anyone. "But no one should have to go hungry this Onam," he said.
With the payment issue resolved, Gopi ended his post on a celebratory note --"The issue has been resolved, and they will celebrate Onam happily! Let them have their Onam feast!!"
