SAKHI centre staff unpaid for three months, says Anbumani

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Anbumani Ramadoss | Photo Credit: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM

PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Monday urged the Tamil Nadu government to immediately release three months’ pending salaries to employees of SAKHI One Stop Centres, who provide support to women and children affected by violence.

In a statement, he said the employees, who are paid between ₹10,000 and ₹22,000 a month on a contractual basis, were facing severe financial hardship due to the delay in salaries. He said the centres, established at 59 locations across Tamil Nadu with Central government funding, provide medical assistance, legal aid, psychological counselling, temporary shelter and rehabilitation services under one roof.

According to him, 767 posts have been sanctioned across the centres, with 13 employees allocated to each centre, though several posts remain vacant, increasing the workload of existing staff.

He also alleged that employees were being forced to borrow money to meet even basic expenses required to operate the centres as funds had not been allocated for such expenditure. Complaints to senior district-level officials had yielded no results, he said.

Dr. Anbumani pointed out ₹18.62 crore had been allocated for the centres in the recently presented State Budget and questioned the delay in disbursing salaries.

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