The national Capital seems to be heading towards yet another civic lock-down as over 1.3 lakh employees of the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCDs) on Wednesday went on a strike over non-payment of salaries and other dues.
The strike, which was called by all unions of MCD employees including sanitation staff, engineers, teachers, health staff, etc; witnessed massive protests outside CM’s residence, Jantar Mantar and in various nooks and corners of the city.
To mark their protest, the sanitation workers dumped heaps of garbage on various roads and streets of the city. Following the crisis, Delhi high court issued notices to the city government, the Central government and MCDs and has sought a reply from them. The High Court also directed the police to make sure that civic work does not get affected in the on-going strike. The MCDs said that the government has not released their total share due to which the crisis has deepened. The Delhi government, however, maintained that it has released the allocated funds to the MCDs on time. As announced earlier, thousands of Corporation staff, under the banner of United Front, joined the indefinite strike at Jantar Mantar early morning while thousands of others staged protest at various locations including MCD headquarters, zonal offices and other strategic locations. The front, which comprises 20 associations, informed that the protest at Jantar Mantar will go on for the first three days and then they will hit the streets.
“In order to mount pressure on the concerned authorities, we have decided to protest aggressively this time. We have halted civic works so we could draw state-wide attention,” said Rajesh Mishra, president of United Front as well as Engineers’ Association of all the three Corporations.
In another protest, organised by Delhi Majdoor Vikas Sanyukt Morcha, hundreds of workers organised a protest outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence and decided to go on a three-day strike from Wednesday over non-payment of dues.
“Over one lakh employees including sanitation workers and other employees are on strike and no work will be done. The issues of salary and arrear payment have affected all the employees of the Municipal Corporations, including the doctors, nurses, engineers, teachers, sanitation workers and other class III and IV staff who have not been paid salaries for up to four months,” said
Rajendra Mewati, general secretary of the front.
Taking stock of the situation, the Delhi high court issued notices to the Central and Delhi governments, and all the three civic bodies here on a petition seeking release of salaries of Municipal workers. The order came after the workers decided to go on a three-day strike over non-payment of dues. A division Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath also sought response of the Delhi government, North MCD, SDMC, EDMC and DDA by the next date of hearing on February 2.
The government clarified that it has already disbursed funds to the Municipal Corporations for the payment of salaries and that all the three Commissioners of the Corporations had given it in writing that they had received the amount. Reacting to the strike called by Municipal employees over the non-payment of salaries, the government spokesperson said: “North MCD has received Rs 892.92 crore, East Rs 465 crore and South MCD Rs 668 crore from the Delhi government in this financial year for payment of employees’ salaries. Commissioners of all three MCDs confirmed in presence of the government officials on January 15 that they have received the entire amount meant for salaries.
The three MCDs have an outstanding loan of Rs 5,908 crore, which they owe to the Delhi Government. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has already announced a moratorium on this loan.” Delhi Tourism minister Kapil Mishra also alleged that the Corporations had Rs 300 crore that they are not spending.
The three Mayors, however, have asserted that the government is revealing half facts and sitting on Rs 2,501 crore due to the Corporations. The Mayors claimed that under the DMC Act, there are provisions of releasing shares on time but the government, in order to defame the civic agencies, has stopped releasing money which has led to a severe fund-crunch these days. “The government is misleading people by revealing false data. One side the Corporations are reeling severely under a massive financial crunch while the government is busy in politics over the issue,” said Ravinder Gupta, Mayor of North MCD.