Chandigarh, April 8 (KNN) Industrial workers of Mohali have accused Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) for demanding bribe to pass their bills which is 70 per cent of the employees' salary.

ESIC is supposed to release the payment in one week time frame but there are bills pending since June 2021, Jasbir Singh, Chairman Labour Laws, Mohali Industries Association told KNN India.

“This is not the government’s money it is the employees' money which should be paid on time. The ESIC in Punjab is under high level corruption as bills are pending since June 2021 and industrial workers are asked to pay bribes of Rs 500 to Rs 2000 to get their bills passed,” Singh added.

He accused the managerial officials of corrupt practices in the office and harassing the workers by delaying the payments.

The workers have also pointed out that the doctors are avoiding to visit the ESIC hospitals due to poor infrastructure of all ESIC buildings which leaves the patients unattended.

Only pharmacists are providing medicines to insured workers and in case of accident and emergencies they refer the insured workers to ESIC hospitals which are only six cities of Punjab.

“When the patients reach the hospital they refer them to government hospitals where ESIC has no tie up such as civil hospitals, GMCH sector 32, Government hospital sector 16 and PGI Chandigarh,” said Singh.

The workers have to spend expenditure on treatment from their own pockets and wait for their reimbursement for years together. 

“This is clear cheating with the poor insured workers by the state and central governments as they are not discharging their duties properly. It requires serious thinking on the subject for the achievements of aim and object of the ESI Act,” he stated. (KNN/KT)