NEW DELHI: Around 4,000 public health workers employed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will receive a minimum monthly salary of Rs 18,000, along with dearness allowance, under the principle of equal pay for equal work, officials said on Friday.
The revised pay, which carries an annual financial burden of Rs 52 crore, was announced at an event attended by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta at the MCD headquarters on Friday.
According to an official statement, the workers, earlier designated as domestic breeding checker (DBC) staff and later redesignated as Multi-Tasking Staff (Public Health), were recruited to help contain dengue and have continued to perform public health duties, including door-to-door visits, over the years, MCD Commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar said.
Under the revised arrangement, their salaries will be fixed at the minimum of Level 1 of the pay matrix, or Rs 18,000, in addition to variable dearness allowance. The increased wages have been transferred directly to their bank accounts, Mayor Pravesh Wahi said.
Wahi said the proposal had been announced in the previous budget and was taken up with the chief minister to secure approval for its implementation. “When we told the CM about the salary increase announced in the previous budget, she immediately asked about the cost. When informed that it would amount to Rs 52 crore annually, she approved it without delay,” he said.
The pay revision comes amid the MCD’s efforts to address employee-related issues, with the mayor also announcing the recruitment of 2,500 sanitation workers ahead of Diwali to improve cleanliness in the city and its markets.
