: Safai karamcharis from Shahdara South Zone in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) held a demonstration in front of the
Deputy Commissioner’s office in their Zonal office in Patparganj on Tuesday.
The workers were accompanied by members of the MCD Core Committee Union as they demanded their pending salaries to be cleared. Most of them are employed on a contractual basis and have not received their wages for 4-5 months.
“Whenever we visit the office to ask for our salaries, the officers tell us that our data is not there. We have been employed for 20-25 years and have been working every day of our lives. How can our data not be there?,” said Kusum, who has been waiting on her salary for three months.
Another worker Rajan has not been paid for the past six months and has been evicted out of his house because of his inability to pay the rent. He attempted suicide at the Shahdara South Zone
office and had to be restrained by his colleagues.
Deputy Commissioner Anshul Sirohi refused to meet with all the workers and locked his office. He invited two
representatives from the protesting crowd to his office but was denied.
“We have met the DC, AC and other officers on multiple occasions before this, as late as yesterday, but they keep making excuses,” said the gathered protestors, after they were threatened with suspension.
Safai Karamcharis in Delhi have been protesting
since the beginning of the year for pending salaries and regularisation.