Sanitation staff demand service regularisation

Some roads, streets and parks under the East Delhi Municipal Corporation remain littered with garbage as sanitation workers continued strike on Monday.

It seems the standoff between employees and the civic agency will not end anytime soon as the workers’ union is now demanding regularisation of employees who were taken on contract after 2006.

“We are on strike today as well and we will continue until our demands are met,” a union leader said.

The east civic agency claimed that salaries for February have been disbursed to sanitation workers. “It’s not about salaries anymore. We want regularisation of employees who were recruited after 2006,” he added. “There are over 11,000 safai karamcharis across Delhi. The civic agencies have been passing the buck over the issue of regularisation of employees.”
Garbage was seen littered on the roads in Mayur Vihar Phase-1, Mayur Vihar Extension and Karkardooma, among other areas, in east Delhi.

Officials said the stirke is not over yet. “We got information that the strike is continuing. We have disbursed salaries for February,” an official with the East Corporation said.

On garbage being littered on the roads, the official said, “Though the east civic agency has managed to lift garbage from almost all the dhalaos, there are some pockets where it needs to be cleared.”

Last week, over 120 councillors of the three BJP-led corporations – North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation and EDMC – including senior party leaders, marched to Raj Niwas from Chandi Ram Akhara, seeking release of funds by the Delhi government.