Yogi Adityanath's women staff thrashed, locked up for protesting over late salaries
New Delhi: Women staff of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's 1076 helpline claimed they were locked up and tortured on Friday for protesting against non-payment of salaries.
According to media reports, employees alleged that they have not received their salaries for the last four months but when they protested against it, they were beaten up and locked in a room in the Cyber Tower office in Vibhuti Khand.
A member of the staff informed the media that when they arrived in office on Friday, they were not allowed to punch their cards but were instead asked to mark their attendance on a piece of paper.
The employees did not agree to this and retaliated demanding immediate payment of pending salary, after which they would leave.
They were then taken into a room for negotiation, but were locked in.
Over ten other female employees also fainted during the protest and had to be rushed to the nearby Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.
The police informed that they received a call around 7:30 am that around 100 employees were locked up and some had even consumed a substance.
Reports in the media did not clarify what the substance was.
The Station House Officer (SHO) of Vibhuti Kand, Satyendra Kumar Rai said that after rushing to the spot they found that one Shalu Yadav had fainted, while Shama, Shalini and Shivani had vomited.
They were then taken to the RML Hospital.
CCTV footage from the facility is currently being investigated, Rai said.
Dr DS Negi of RML hospital however said that none of the patients had consumed any toxic substance.
Dhruv Mishra, project head of the call centre, denied all allegations and said that salaries were deposited to employees' bank accounts on February 8.
He told the media that, “We have 1,200 employees working in three shifts. Only some have problems because of bank issues.”
The call centre was set up in December with the help of an NGO to channelise the complaints of the people of the state and for offering quick redressal, say reports.
