Salaries of 180 lifeguards delayed due to negligence by govt officials

Kovalam: The salary disbursal of nearly 180 lifeguards in the state has been adversely impacted due to the negligence of some tourism department officials.

Kovalam and Varkala have the largest number of lifeguards in the state. Every month, the Directorate of Tourism, Thiruvananthapuram, sends the allotment file associated with their salary to the Finance Department.

However, this month, there has been a delay in forwarding the file to the finance department, leading to the present crisis. 

Due to the non-submission of the file on time, the required amount was not allotted by the finance department. The director of tourism remained unaware of this issue as the officials kept this mistake under wraps. Usually, the salaries are paid to the lifeguards before the 10th of every month.

The work hours of these lifeguards are from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and they earn Rs 815 per day. In this way, they will receive Rs 23,400 per month after a deduction of Rs 1500. They have demanded that the authorities provide salaries as soon as possible.