NEW DELHI: Thousands of sanitation employees of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) went on an indefinite strike on Friday demanding their regularisation, and payment of pending salaries and bonus ahead of Diwali. Former mayor Jai Prakash, who led the mediation talks between the civic agency and the workers, said the MCD has agreed to two major demands put up by the latter.
The sanitation workers announced that they will stop sweeping streets, lifting garbage and other sanitation jobs until the corporation agrees to their demands. MCD Safai Karmachari Union, which is leading the strike, said that more than 15,000 sanitation workers have been waiting for their regularisation for 20-25 years. The union’s president, Sant Lal Chaurasiya, also said that one month’s salary of the sanitation workers is pending while they have not received their bonus for the last three years.
“The festival of Diwali is around the corner but they don’t have money to celebrate it. They are neither getting timely payments nor are they being regularised. This has to stop. So we have decided to go on an indefinite strike from today (Friday),” Chaurasiya said. Meanwhile, Jai Prakash, said the MCD has agreed to two major demands put up by the workers.
“They demanded abolition of Fundamental Rights (FR) 17 clause which was still in continuation in zones which used to fall under East MCD. Besides, we also agreed to the demand that family members who got employment in place of the deceased MCD staff till 2010 will also be regularised,” he told this newspaper.
Under FR 17, the staff gets the benefits of regular posts from the day they are regularised in the civic body.
However, the workers’ union has been demanding the perks given after regularisation in a retrospective manner, from the day a person gets employed with the MCD. Also, only those family members who got jobs on compassionate grounds before 2004 were cleared for regular posting. “We urged them (workers) to get back to work. However, they are demanding the orders in writing. We have assured them about this as well. Hopefully, they will discontinue the strike,” Prakash added. No immediate comments were received from the MCD.
‘One month’s salary pending for workers’
MCD Safai Karmachari Union, which is leading the strike, said that more than 15,000 sanitation workers have been waiting for their regularisation for 20-25 years. The union’s president Sant Lal Chaurasiya said that one month’s salary of the sanitation workers is pending while they have not received their bonus for the last three years The sanitation workers announced that they will working until their demands are met.