Patna, April 27: Taking cognisance of reports published in The Telegraph, the Bihar State Sugar Corporation today handed a cheque of Rs 25,000 to Vinod Poddar — a retired employee of the corporation. But the amount is meagre compared to what his dues amount to.

“The total amount against my outstanding salaries is Rs 17.5 lakh and these people are offering me a mere Rs 25,000 as if I am begging for the money. I am only asking for the money, which is mine, for which I had slogged for years. This is like receiving alms. I could have received this amount if I had begged in front of the hospital. This is what one gets for honesty these days,” said Poddar, while receiving the cheque on Friday evening.

Poddar received the cheque, which was delivered by a peon of the corporation. Though Poddar was initially not ready to accept it, later he did with tears in his eyes.

Poddar is suffering from chronic heart ailment and is getting treatment at Indira Gandhi Institute of Cardiology at Patna Medical College and Hospital since April 1.

“We have issued a cheque of Rs 25,000 as advance payment to Poddar against his pending salaries. This has been done to provide immediate help. The corporation is in the process of re-opening personal ledger accounts of the present and retired employees of the corporation, to clear pending salaries. While that process may take a couple of days, we have issued a cheque of Rs 40,000 to another retired employee, who is hospitalised in Chandigarh in a critical condition,” Lakshmeshwar Jha, the state cane commissioner-cum-managing director of Bihar State Sugar Corporation, said on Friday.

The Telegraph in its issue dated April 24 and 26 had reported about the hardship being faced by Poddar because of non-payment of his salaries for nearly six years and other retirement benefits, including pension.

Poddar has a history of coronary heart disease since 2005 and he retired as a liason officer on September 30, 2011. Despite being referred to All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on April 18, he kept on postponing his discharge till Wednesday, when he finally decided to leave for Delhi after a relative agreed to provide him some monetary assistance.