The civic workers strike entered its fourth day on Saturday as garbage began to pile up on the streets of the national capital.
The Delhi government launched a drive to remove garbage dumped by striking MCD workers, with no end in sight for the “indefinite” strike. The nurses and doctors associations also joined the strike on Saturday, according to the president of Municipal Corporation Doctors’ Association, Dr R R Gautam.
Public Works Department Minister Satyender Jain said he has asked officials to ensure that garbage is cleared from areas where it had been “deliberately thrown” by striking workers.
The government has disbursed funds to pay 12 months worth of salary, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told a news conference.
“We think there is a big scam in MCD,” he said. Over 1.5 lakh workers have shunned work to protest on the streets of the city, demanding payment of the due salaries.
While the city government initiated a cleanliness drive on Saturday, municipal doctors and nurses, including the paramedical staff joined the indefinite strike demanding timely payment of salaries, though doctors said they never wanted to go on strike in the first place.
“We apologise to the public to have taken this step. But we were left with no choice. The city government and the municipal corporations are playing blame game over the issue of salaries.
We didn’t join the strike because we thought the government and corporations will find a solution to this mess. We were forced to join the ongoing agitation,” said Dr Gautam. BJP leaders also joined the protests and shouted slogans against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Published 30 January 2016, 20:51 IST