£3p.w. fair wage for London servant — envoy

Press, 27 August 1979, Page 9

£3p.w. fair wage for London servant — envoy

4ZPA London The Indian High Commission in London has said that a weekly wage of three pounds sterling ($6.56) is a fair wage for its envoys’ servants in Britain. At a news conference in India House the Deputy Indian High Commissioner (Dr Indu Singh) said all envoys’ servant in Britain were paid three pounds a week. The conference had been called after newspaper stories alleged that an In-

dian servant had worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week for three pounds in the service of the Indian First Secretary (Mr Jawahar Lal). A neighbour had claimed that the servant was forced to sleep on newspaper in the garage. But Dr Singh said the neighbour had had ‘misplaced sympathy.” “I have ascertained the facts by talking to the servant,” Dr Singh said. “He was sleeping in the garage from choice because he liked to sleep

there by day, or smoke there. He has a bedroom upstairs in the house. “About salary, I would like to explain that while three pounds a week is bad news for a British wage, the Government of India has fixed scales of pay for domestic help that diplomats need in different countries. “The salaries are based on the assumption that the servant will live in the diplomat’s house, eat his food, and receive clothes and free medical care.”