Yesterday I was informed that Ahmadabad and Nagpur units of WTR has recovered the amount paid as immediate funeral expenses to the families of the deceased employees has been recovered when the claims of the deceased employees were settled. This is completely wrong and a violation of the rules on the subject. The immediate funeral expense payment is to be made immediately from any available funds and need not be recovered.
It was as demanded by the union in the Welfare Committee that the decision was taken and the amount was increased later to Rs. 15,000 again on demand of the union. This amount is not to be recovered at all. We hope that once this mistake was pointed out the recovered amount will be paid back to the family of the deceased. In case, similar incident has happened in other places also, the union should take up and settle the issue immediately.