THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The City corporation has revoked the disciplinary action against 11 sanitation workers who trashed their Onam feast. The order issued on Tuesday says employees can join duty on Wednesday. But it is silent on the workers’ demand for a probe into the alleged lapses on the part of their supervising officers that provoked them.
Earlier, Mayor Arya Rajendran, who ordered their suspension, had made a turnaround on the issue. She told mediapersons that the suspension was not a punishment.
“Their suspension wasn’t a punishment. It was part of a further probe into the issue. The corporation will hear the workers’ version,” she said. It is learnt the CPM leadership had asked the mayor to withdraw the disciplinary action. Earlier, party state secretary M V Govindan, education minister and former mayor V Sivankutty and senior leader Anathalavattom Anandan had expressed their displeasure at the punishment.
The city corporation had suspended seven permanent sanitation workers and sacked four temporary workers for trashing the Onam feast as part of a protest on September 3. The workers were protesting against their supervising officers who made them clean up the drains and deal with slaughter waste before the feast.
Though they had reported two hours ahead of the normal duty time, they were relieved only one-and-a-half hours late. The feast was arranged with the fund raised by the workers for Onam celebration in office. A video of their protest, which went viral on social media, invited wide criticism from the public. The initial reports were that the staffers refused to work on the day and protested when they were asked to. Following this, the mayor ordered action against them.
The disciplinary action, however, backfired on the mayor following a TNIE report that the employees had worked for extended hours on the day. The employees also revealed that the officers rejected their request to postpone the drain cleaning to afternoon or next day. All the workers who faced action are members of the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation Workers Association affiliated with the CITU. Among the four sacked staffers, two were SC women, one SC man and a widow. On Monday, the workers had submitted a petition to the additional secretary of the corporation seeking withdrawal of disciplinary action and a proper probe into the incident.