Nearly two months after the completion of the state’s first drug and socio-economic survey, several teachers in Jalandhar are still waiting for full payment for the work they undertook as enumerators and supervisors.The survey, which began on May 5, covered around 16.4 lakh voters across nine Assembly constituencies in the district.The survey was conducted at the polling booth level, involving more than 1,162 teachers who visited households to collect ground-level information on drug abuse and the socio-economic conditions of affected families, including their income, education and living conditions.The government had fixed the remuneration at Rs 250 per survey, with the maximum payment expected to be Rs 62,500.However, teachers said that while the survey work had been completed, they were still awaiting their full dues, with some receiving only a fraction of the amount payable to them.‘No clear timeline’A pre-primary teacher who worked as an enumerator in the Ram Nagar area of the Jalandhar North Assembly constituency said, “I completed the survey work assigned to me and visited around 200 households under my booth as required. I was expecting Rs 50,000, but only Rs 22,000 has been paid to me so far. The amount has been released in parts and I have been waiting for the remaining payment for weeks.”She said she had approached officials concerned in the Jalandhar North Assembly constituency regarding the pending amount but had not received a clear timeline for its release.Another teacher in the Jalandhar West constituency said she had received only Rs 12,500 in two instalments, with Rs 2,500 paid in the first instalment and Rs 10,000 in the second, despite having completed the survey work assigned to her.The delay has also drawn concern from the teachers’ union, which said payments were being released in phases, leaving several teachers waiting for their dues.‘Phased sanctions’Harbans Lal, district president of the Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Teachers’ Union, said, “The issue is particularly frustrating for teachers who had completed the field work months ago but are still receiving their remuneration in small instalments. Some teachers have received their dues, while others have received only one or two instalments.”Meanwhile, ADC (Rural) P Divya said the delay was due to the phased release of sanctions by the state government.“We have received the sanctions till August 28. The remaining sanctions will be received shortly from the state. The lists of supervisors have also been shared with the state and their sanctions are expected to be received in the following week,” she said.She said the district had received nine instalments so far on a weekly or monthly basis.“The state is releasing sanctions for the payments in phases. Once the sanctions are received, the district distributes the amount among the respective Assembly constituencies and from there it is released to the enumerators or surveyors according to their sanctioned count,” she said.