Port Blair, Jan 28: Mr. Vishal Jolly, National Executive Member BJP, Member of Home Ministry Advisory Committee, Govt. of India & Former State President BJP A & N has requested the Union Minister of Defence, Government of India, Mr. Rajnath Singh, for providing of better job, improvised salary or assuring permanent job for all employees of Defence Canteen (Unit Run Canteen), posted in A & N Islands.
In his letter he wrote that there are a good number of employees working in Defence Canteen (Unit Run Canteen (URC) of A & N Islands. They have been continuously serving since past twenty five years. These employees are provided with very low salary and they are also not entitled for any TA, DA and House Rent Allowances etc. With a meager salary, it is extremely difficult to survive, especially in our Islands considering the cost of living being high here due to geographical isolation.
Further he stressed that these employees have worked relentlessly during the COVID pandemic and apart from working inside the canteen they have also served door to door essential commodities to officers, ex-servicemen, retired officers of armed forces etc.
He also mentioned that with a limited salary they will have to run their respective families which includes school going children and old aged parents. They don’t own any houses here and therefore they are forced to live in rented accommodation which again is a financial burden to them. They are on the verge of starvation but still can’t leave this job because of poverty and responsibility of family.
Concluding in his letter, he requested for considering the plight of these employees, to increase their salaries adequately or make their services permanent and suggested that there is another possibility which can be explored and that is with respect to vacancies in other defence establishments like Naval Ship Repair Yard (NSRY) & other units which can be filled up by adjusting them to those units, considering their vast experience.
