"Water truck drivers" are experiencing payment delays.

Alagoas247 - The water truck drivers, workers responsible for distributing water in municipalities affected by the drought in Alagoas, have reportedly not been paid for their work for four months, according to information from the mayor of Pariconha, Fabiano Ribeiro (PP), who, on Tuesday afternoon (22), gave an interview to TV Mar (a closed-circuit TV channel of the Arnon de Mello Organization), within the program 'Verdade e Informação', hosted by Jeferson Morais. On that occasion, the manager denounced that, due to the outstanding labor debts, the water truck drivers decided to suspend distribution about 15 days ago, only because the state government had decided to alleviate the problem by paying the months of June and July.

“Our municipality was one of those that already declared a state of emergency due to the drought. Resources from the federal government were released to combat the effects of the drought, which continues to plague the people of the Sertão region. The service carried out by the Army personnel, through the water truck operation, is proceeding perfectly, with our city having three water trucks available. However, there is a deficiency on the part of the State Civil Defense. Therefore, we are trying to maintain contact with the government so that we can have a meeting in this regard,” stated the mayor, highlighting the support provided by the federal government, through the Ministry of Integration.

In the telephone interview, the mayor also stated that if the situation is not resolved as soon as possible, complementary activities – such as the purchase of animal feed, as well as the drilling of wells and irrigated perimeters around the Sertão Canal – will be compromised, with Alagoas counting more than 50 cities in a state of emergency, due to what is already considered the worst drought in the last 100 years.

“Despite the payment of part of the arrears, we are aware that, in some municipalities, the water truck drivers have still not been paid for four months,” added the mayor, recalling the last meeting of the State Committee to Combat Drought, when the mayors, through the Association of Municipalities of Alagoas (AMA), suggested to the Civil Defense that it seek to expand its actions. “We need to go back to discussing the situation, which is chaotic, because we still see regions without piped water for human consumption,” he emphasized.

Colonel Edvaldo Nunes, coordinator of the State Civil Defense, confirmed during a meeting of the aforementioned committee last September the difficulty in maintaining the service in Alagoas, since the state government was spending R$ 3 million monthly on the water truck operation. At the time, he also acknowledged that the activity should be considered a temporary measure, highlighting the need to invest in water infrastructure.

At the same meeting, the military official admitted that the 'only' outstanding months are August and September. He stressed, however, that 28 water truck drivers had pending documentation, preventing them from receiving payment. Finally, according to Edvaldo Nunes, some also had difficulty withdrawing their payments, and the increase in the number of municipalities in a state of emergency was also hindering the operation, which is scheduled to continue until October 31st.

A Gazetaweb He tried to contact the communications offices of the Fire Department and the State Secretariat for the Environment and Water Resources, to which the Drought Relief Committee is linked, but was unsuccessful.

With gazetaweb.com