NEW DELHI: Five months’ pending salaries of 96 employees of Delhi’s historic Hardayal library has been released, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday saying there is now an “honest government” in the municipal corporation that works for commoners.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday released salary of 96 employees of the Hardayal Municipal Public Library (HMPL).The released salaries in lumpsum pertain to the five months of 2021, according to an official statement.
The 160-year-old library in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk area was christened Hardinge Library in 1916 and boasts a rich collection of books in Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit.
Kejriwal addressed a group of employees of the library who had gathered at the Chief Minister’s Camp Office to thank him for redressing their long-pending grievances.
Kejriwal expressed happiness on the release of five months’ salary to the employees after a long struggle. He said, “A provision has been made for your salaries for the remaining period and it will also be released soon.”
He said that his regime is a government of the commoners and they understand the pain and the suffering of the common people because its members also come from similar background.
“We are not politicians. We also come from the middle class and understand how difficult it is to survive without a salary. Expenses are to be incurred on paying electricity bills, water bills, children's school fees and medical treatment,” he said.
In a veiled reference to the BJP, Kejriwal said, “They curse us for providing electricity, water, health facilities and quality education for free.” “The basic needs of a common man are electricity, water, education and treatment, if he gets these, then he does not need anything else. We are working for you people (citizens),” he told the group of library staff.
“Earlier there was a dishonest government, which ruined the MCD in 15 years, now there is an honest government. You must have noticed the difference in the functioning of the MCD in the last year even though they have snatched our various powers and they are not allowing (formation) of a standing committee,” he said.