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Kolkata: How often
do you find a government employee who doesn't want a hike in
dearness allowance (DA)? But Kolkata resident Hiralal Burman is an
exception - he refuses to accept his increased allowance to
protest the poor DA hike for workers under the 100-day rural jobs
scheme.
Burman, an assistant accounts officer in the Kolkata branch of the
Indian Audits and Accounts department, had shot off a letter to
the Comptroller and Auditor General of India last year after the
central government decided to raise the dearness allowance by
seven percent in July 2011.
"I don't want the seven percent increased DA. It is a small token
of protest from an Indian against the indifference the union
government has shown towards workers in the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)," Burman told
IANS.
While after the hike, he gets around Rs.1,600 in DA, he says
workers in West Bengal used to get Rs.130 as variable dearness
alloance (VDA) under MGNREGA and since April have been getting
Rs.136 - a meagre increase of Rs.6.
He feels though central and state government employees get
compensated whenever there is a rise in price of essentials,
labourers under the scheme suffer as the VDA hike under MGNREGA is
nominal.
Burman, a government employee for 17 years, has been doing
voluntary service in several districts with the aim of improving
the living standards of the underprivileged.
"First of all, poor people who look up to the 100 days employment
scheme are not getting full 100 days of work. On top of that, the
VDA hike for them is very meagre. The hiked VDA in no way can be
compared with the ever-increasing inflation," said Burman, who is
in his mid-40s.
Ironically, despite his protests, he continues to receive the
hiked amount of DA as there is no law to deduct the increased sum
from the salary.
"Even after so many months I continue to get an increased DA. I
have informed senior officials, but they have told me there is no
specific law to deduct the increased sum. I hope after this news
comes up, something concrete will happen," he said.
Earlier too he has declined to take honorariums for working extra
hours.
"Twice I have declined honorariums/special pay offered for working
extra hours. I felt that the salary I receive is enough for me; so
I refused those honorariums," he said.
Burman has made it a habit of visiting the rural parts of the
state every Sunday and help illiterate villagers in getting their
dues under government schemes and policies.
"There are lots of pro-people policies for the poor, but the
problem is most villagers are illiterate and don't know how to
take advantage of these schemes. So I help them by writing
applications and other official chores."
Burman, a commerce graduate, has been working among the poor and
the marginalised for the last 10-12 years.
(Pradipta Tapadar can be contacted at pradipta.t@ians.in)
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