North MCD teachers protest outside Adesh Gupta's home; nurses begin indefinite strike

new delhi: Scores of teachers of schools under the BJP-run North Corporation held a demonstration outside the residence of the party's Delhi unit chief on Monday over non-payment of salaries for the past four months, an association of municipal teachers here said.

This comes as thousands of healthcare workers (nurses and paramedics) from the same civic body went on an indefinite strike on Monday. While the North MCD claimed to have paid all doctors and healthcare workers who had salaries pending, nurses and paramedics say they are yet to receive

their dues.

Kuldeep Singh Khatri, head of the Shikshak Nyay Manch Nagar Nigam, said salaries of nearly 9,000 teachers of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation are "due since July".

"We are struggling to make ends meet. We didn't want to protest in this COVID-19 time, but what option did we have? So, this morning a large number of teachers gathered outside Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta's residence in Patel Nagar and voiced their concerns," he said.

As for the healthcare workers, around 650 nurses and 400 paramedical staff of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) run hospitals in Delhi have gone on indefinite strike in protest against non-payment of their salary for the last four months.

Nurses and paramedics from Hindu Rao Hospital, Kasturba Gandhi Hospital and Rajan Babu TB Hospital have decided to go on strike.

Speaking to Millennium Post B.L Sharma, President of Delhi Nurses Union said that nurses and paramedics from these hospitals started the strike from 8 am on Monday.

"Nurses whose salary is as it is small are not getting it. We are disappointed and have been cheated by the Mayor and Commissioner. We were assured that the salary of all employees will be released but only doctors' salary was released and we were left empty-handed. This is cheating," he added.

The Delhi BJP chief, also a former North Delhi mayor, tweeted: "Met & addressed the MCDs teachers delegation. Teachers are not getting salaries as Delhi Govt is not releasing Rs 13,000 Cr of MCDs. We stand with our teachers in this distressing time & if needed, will meet Kejriwal also. I have assured them 2 months of salary before Diwali."

The ruling AAP government hit back at the BJP, asking it to demand that amount from the Centre and alleged "corruption and mismanagement in the BJP-ruled civic bodies".

AAP's in-charge of civic bodies, Durgesh Pathak, issued a statement saying, "The teachers of BJP-ruled MCD schools are on protest demanding their pending salaries".

He claimed that the AAP government has "already released around Rs 746 crores of their salary funds till October, but MCD has not paid their teachers yet".

However, the Delhi BJP has threatened legal action against Pathak if he does not withdraw allegations of corruption against the MCDs.