Denied salary, UP Jal Nigam man ends life

n On July 11 last year, R C Tiwari, a daily wage worker with the department, committed suicide in Gosaiganj, Lucknow. His family was reported to be in debt.

n About a week later, on July 20, another employee, Veerendra Singh, reportedly died due to lack of funds for his treatment. Veerendra, who suffered from kidney failure, had not received his salary for months.

In today’s incident, Singh’s body was found hanging from a ceiling fan. His wife Anita said the family was undergoing severe financial hardhips. They had even written to the district magistrate seeking redressal.

Sources said, Jal Nigam employees got their salaries for the September 2005 on January 29, 2006. The rest of their pay, since October last, is pending. State Urban Development Minister Azam Khan has reportedly directed officials to withhold the salaries till his next orders.

On Thursday afternoon, Singh reportedly left home to arrange for some money. But the sam e night, he was arrested after he was found carrying a knife. Police said Singh, in fact, shouted at them to arrest him saying he would at least get some food in jail. He was detained the whole night, and released this morning. According to the chowkidar at the executive engineer’s office, Guru Prasad, Singh arrived there at around 7:30 am today. He started discussing non-payment of salaries. ‘‘He even abused me and told me to leave the job since we aren’t getting paid,’’ said Prasad.

When Prasad told him to leave, Singh reportedly asked to be allowed to use the bathroom. On gaining entry into the office, Singh allegedly locked the door from inside and started ransacking the accounts section. Singh reportedly cut his finger with a blade, and wrote a suicide note in blood. ‘‘All complaints against me are untrue… Even setting up an inquiry will not prove it. Jai Hind,’’ the note said.

Executive engineer R P Ahirwar claimed Singh was mentally unfit.

According to officials, Singh was recently shifted to another area, but had failed to join there. Hence, the ‘‘complaints’’ of negligence of duty to which he had referred in his suicide note.