The Plight of a BPO Employee from North East India Goes Unheard

New Delhi, April 17, 2013

He was critically injured and has been paralyzed after he met accident last September. His employer didn’t pay his salary nor listen to his distress. He is completely paralyzed. Family members narrated the whole story to the NE Helpline.

The plight of North East people continues in Delhi as many unfortunate incidents and stories go unreported. Many North East employees were debarred from getting their monthly salaries including one recent incident occurred in Saket, south Delhi. It was only over two weeks ago, when the North East Helpline intervened a desperate NE girl got her salary. Yet the other NE girl, who was allegedly beaten by her Thai manager (who is a business partner of Mr. Deepak Mittal, owner of the Gold Leaf Spa) last month, didn’t get justice as action was not taken up by the Delhi Police so far. The Thai national got scot-free and she had silently escaped to Thailand soon after that incident. The unsavoury tales of the North East continues still.

Like many, Mr. DNG Kovalou, after his graduation started his career as a BPO executive at Gurgaon in 2004. He was doing quite well and looks promising in building a bright future. However, his dream was cut short on the fateful morning of September 15, 2012 while returning home after a night shift in Office Cab ‘Tavera Car’ (HR-55-MT-9998) with his colleagues, when a speeding Toyota Innova Car (DL-8CX-1110) hit them at Sanjay T-Point, Mahipalpur in south Delhi at around 4.30 am. The 31-year-old Kovalou was injured critically on his head and legs while his four colleagues also sustained injuries. All of them were brought to AIIMS Trauma Centre, New Delhi where they got treatment. However, Kovalou was admitted in this hospital till December 2, 2012.

Family members of the hapless victim narrated the whole story of this unfortunate incident to the North East Helpline general secretary Dr. Alana Golmei yesterday. “Kovalou’s injuries have caused 100% permanent disablement and since then he has been lying on bed in a vegetative state. He is now merely surviving on Jejunostomy Feeding, Tracheotomy Breathing Pipe, Caspofungin and Imipenem injections with follow-up in confined vegetative state,” a relative of Kovalou told NE Helpline.

As the youngest son and beloved child in the family, his parents had sent him to Delhi for higher education by investing huge sum of money with a great expectation that one day he would look after his aged-mother and also support his five sisters and one brother. Till date more than 15 lakhs of Rupees have been spent on Kovalou’s treatment and he requires at least two dedicated attendants round the clock. Over seven months now, family has exhausted all their money on his treatment. The family didn’t have alternative source of income and they are distressed.

Kovalou’s employer neither has hospitalization nor accident insurance policies which is a bare welfare facility extended by most employers today. When Kovalou’s family approached his employer M/s Onkar Info Tech, Gurgaon to extend help, they did not respond while two of Kovalou’s friends, Ramesh Joshi and Ashok Kumar, who were also injured during the accident, had already got their medical reimbursement and pending salaries,” said a relative of Kovalou.

When Kovalou’s sister gave a written request to release the salary for the month of September 2012 and other dues, the company redirected the letter stating that “he had left the company”. The truth is when Kovalou met the accident while returning from the night-shift he had neither left nor resigned from his job.

With the daily expenses amounting to around Rs 25000 (twenty five thousand), the distressed family hired a lawyer to claim for compensation and fought the case in the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal.

Another shocking behaviour of the employer is that others who were injured along with Kovalou were advised to approach the lawyer hired by Kovalou’s family claiming the lawyer was hired by the employer. The family is praying for miracle and awaiting justice from the Hon’ble Court.

North East Helpline appeals to the Labour Minister of Haryana, Government of Haryana to intervene in releasing the salary and dues of Mr DNG Kovalou till date since he met the accident while he was employed by M/s Onkar Info Tech, Gurgaon. The Helpline also appeals to Delhi Police to book the driver and owner of the car which had caused the accident and rendered the life of a North East boy, Kovalou into a paralyzed condition and making the family in a painful situation.

Released By
Bruce K. Thangkhal
Media Incharge
North East Helpline
HQ: A124/6 Katwaria Sarai, New Delhi 110016
[email protected], www.nehelpline.net
North East Helpline (www.nehelpline.net) is combined initiative of various human rights activists, social workers, students, journalists, and lawyers seeking to prevent harassment and abuses meted out to women, North East People, and tribal communities of different states.