Now Reading: Madurai and Theni Mahalir Thittam staff get 5 months pending salary
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Madurai and Theni Mahalir Thittam staff get 5 months pending salary
Nearly 200 staff working under the Mahalir Thittam scheme in Madurai and Theni received their pending salaries on Monday, five months after they were last paid. The disbursal came after The New Indian Express reported on June 3 that the employees had not been paid since March.
A staff member working under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana told TNIE that officials responded swiftly to the report and cleared the dues. She said the five months' salary was credited on Monday, and officials assured timely payments going forward.
Earlier, TNIE spoke to staff across the state who said project officers had not disbursed salaries since March. An Assistant Project Officer said consolidated monthly salaries range between Rs 28,000 and Rs 35,000, while a Data Entry Operator said she earns Rs 15,000 a month and the delay had caused hardship for families dependent on that income.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The delay exposed the precarious nature of contract-based employment under centrally sponsored skill development schemes like DDU-GKY, where staff work for years without formal job security. In Tamil Nadu, hundreds of such workers across districts often face salary delays because fund releases from the central government get stuck at state or district project offices. The issue is not new: in 2023, similar non-payment under the same scheme in other southern states led to protests. What matters now is whether the state will set up a grievance mechanism to prevent repeated lapses. Watch for whether other districts follow Madurai and Theni in clearing backlogs.
Source: newindianexpress.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Methodology and corrections.
