AAP claims 1.25 lakh MCD employees on strike; BJP says 'cooked up' story

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday claimed that 1.25 lakh employees of the three municipal corporations here are on strike, even as the BJP termed it a "cooked up" story, saying Delhi saw normal work by staff of the civic bodies.

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) are led by BJP mayors.

The AAP, which is in power in the national capital, also alleged that the BJP is doing politics over salaries of municipal corporation workers to defame the Delhi government.

A section of employees of the NDMC are on strike over non-payment of salaries.

"Today, 1.25 lakh employees of all three MCDs are on strike for non-payment of salaries, all offices are closed and all work has been stalled," AAP leader Durgesh Pathak told a press conference.

He also said that "if you look around Delhi, we will see that there are hundreds of hoardings around the city and if we calculate the total cost of these advertisements, then I think that by this money the salaries could have been paid".

But the BJP does not want to do anything constructive, Pathak alleged.

"What they want is to politicise the matter and to blame the AAP falsely," he said, adding that on behalf of the AAP, "I just want to tell the BJP that enough is enough".

"If they cannot pay salaries of their employees after ruling the MCD for the last 14 years, then they should not have any kind of moral rights to stay in the power. We demand that the BJP should immediately release the salary or (its mayors) should resign from the MCD," Pathak said.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor refuted the allegations.

"We are shocked and anguished to see AAP leader Durgesh Pathak issuing cooked up stories related to MCDs. Pathak's today's claim of strike in three MCDs is totally false as today Delhi saw normal work by municipal staff," he said.

Since early morning sanitation workers are working normally, teachers took online classes, hospital and health centres saw normal work and maintenance department workers could be seen working, and all offices worked at normal strength, Kapoor said.

"No doubt civic employees are facing salary problems but the same can be solved tomorrow if the Arvind Kejriwal government releases constitutional municipal funds as due for 2020-21," he said.