Laid-off dairy workers get their dues

Vijaysinh Parmar/TNN/2 September 2009:KHAMBHA: For Jagatsinh Rathod and three others in Khambha village of Amreli district, Right to Information (RTI) Act played an important role in their getting justice.
Rathod and the other three were part-time workers of Chalala Dairy, which was run by Gujarat Dairy Development Corporation Ltd, Government of Gujarat, at that time. "We were laid off by the management in 2002. We approached Amreli Labour Court for recovery of money we were entitled to from the Dairy. The order came in our favour in September 2008," relates Rathod. Subsequently, the court issued four revenue recovery certificates under the Revenue Recovery Act, 1890. Another clause ordered district collector to recover the amount from MD of Gujarat Dairy Development Corporation Ltd and Chalala Dairy. "After this verdict, we approached the mamlatdar's office in Dhari to find out the progress in the case. We wrote applications to officials and personally visited them. But, we didn't get a satisfactory response. Then, we filled an RTI application to know exact progress of the court's order in the first week of March 2009. Within two weeks, we received all our entitlements in our bank accounts. It was unbelievable," says Rathod.
The three other workers were Pratap Solanki, Yunus Bareval and Ramku Khuman. The four workers recovered Rs 32,525 each. "RTI Act worked wonders. It empowered a common citizen like me to exercise my rights,'' he added.