Twelve employees of Gazipur Railway have been working without any wages for almost two years now.
The gate-keepers of Dhirashrom and Mirer Bazar level crossing are facing severe financial hardship for over 20 months of delay in being paid.
Despite being employees of a state owned enterprise, they are not being able to guarantee basic education for their children, proper food for their families, and are living their lives in extreme poverty.
Gate-keeper of Dhirashrom level-crossing, Mamun Mia, said: "The monthly pay for each temporary gate-keeper is Tk13,500 that comes from the Roads, Transport and Highways Division (RTHD). We are not getting any wages for almost 21 months and there is no guarantee of due payments from the railway authorities."
"We tried to meet the RTHD Divisional Engineer (Dhaka) regarding our salaries but he refused to listen to us. Even Rohingya refugees get bonuses but we could not afford new clothes for our families on Eid. No one cares about poor people like us," he added.
Senior Deputy Assistant Engineer (Path) of Tongi, Mozammel Haque, said: " Usually RTHD provides the wages to the Railway Department in advance but wages of 12 gate-keepers are due from July, 2017. We sent a letter addressed to the Divisional Engineer on May 3, asking him to look into the matter as soon as possible."
Executive Engineer of Gazipur Road Transport and Highways Division, Saif Uddin, said: "RTHD had a 10 year agreement with Bangladesh Railway for Dhirashrom and Mirer Bazar level crossing gates. The agreement ended in June, 2017. So the due wages are not RTHD's responsibility. But we are taking the initiative to pay RTHD's debt of almost 22 lakh (takas) to the Railway Department as soon as possible to lessen the gate-keepers’ sufferings."
"If the Railway Department had more urgently drawn attention to the matter before, the situation could have been avoided," he added.
