ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 made history after landing and the moon's south pole and made India the very first country in the world to do so. India's moon mission, ISRO's scientists and engineers received applauds from the world. However, in contrast a technician who worked for building ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 launchpad is struggling to meet his life needs despite all the limelight.

Deepak Kumar Uprariya, a technician at HEC (Heavy Engineering Corporation Limited) has been selling idlis at a roadside stall in Ranchi to make ends meet. HEC - is a Government of India Company (CPSU) involved in building India's moon mission launchpad.

According to the BBC, Uprariya set up his shop opposite the Old Legislative Assembly in the Dhurwa area of Ranchi the company did not pay his salary for 18 months.

Speaking about his ordeal, Uprariya said that he has been selling idlis for the past few days to make ends meet. He has been managing his shop and office work together. The technician sells idlis in the morning and goes to the office in the afternoon. In the evening, he sells idlis again before heading back home.

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"First I managed my house with a credit card. I got a loan of Rs 2 lakh. I was declared a defaulter. After that, I started running the house by taking money from relatives."
"So far I have taken a loan of four lakh rupees. As I have not returned the money to anyone, people have stopped lending. Then I mortgaged my wife's jewellery and ran the house for a few days," he added.

He further explained that he decided to sell idlis when he felt that the "time of starvation" had come upon him. "My wife makes good idlis. I get 300 to 400 rupees every day by selling them. I make a profit of 50-100 rupees. I am running my house on this money."

According to BBC, Uprariya hails from the Harda district of Madhya Pradesh. In 2012, he quit his job in a private company and joined HEC on a salary of Rs 8,000. Being a government company, he had hoped that his future would be bright but things did not turn out to be in his favour.

"I have two daughters. Both go to school. This year I have not been able to pay their school fees yet. Daily notices are being sent by the school. Even in the classroom, teachers ask who are the children of parents working in HEC to stand up," he said.

"My children are humiliated after this. My daughters come home crying. It breaks my heart to see them cry. But I don't cry in front of them," Upraria added.

As per BBC reports, Upariya isn't only the one who did not get his salary around 2,800 employees of the HEC claim that have not received their salaries for the past 18 months.

Earlier, in August when Chandrayaan-3 made a soft landing on the surface of the Moon's South Pole, in the backdrop, employees of the HEC in Ranchi were protesting their 18-month salary arrears.


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