Jalandhar MC gets salary grant, staffers call off stir

Services were hit as 6,000 employees had gone on strike

IN THE MORNING, WORKERS HAD LOCKED BOTH GATES OF MC OFFICE, MUCH TO THE EMBARRASSMENT OF COMMISSIONER BASANT GARG, WHO REACHED OFFICE AT 10:30 AM

JALANDHAR: The municipal corporation (MC) employees, who sat on a dharna outside the MC office on Monday, called off the strike later after mayor Jagdish Raj Raja informed them that the MC has received the grant from the government to pay the January salary. The protesters included cleanliness workers, drivers, sewermen, clerks and peons.

The MC office wore a deserted look on Monday after over 6,000 employees of the MC, both permanent and temporary, went on a pen-down for not getting the January salary. Even garbagelifting and cleanliness works were not carried out.

The workers had earlier put a lock on both the gates of the MC office, much to the embarrassment of municipal commissioner Basant Garg, who reached the MC office around 10:30 am. When protesters didn’t open the main gate, Garg asked its staff to open another gate.

The workers sat on the dharna till 2:30 pm. It was only after Raja and Basant Garg came out of the office and addressed the gathering and showed the cheque to the union chief that the protest was called off. “I request all the protesting workers to call off the protest as we have already started the process to release their salary,” he said. He sought time till March 31 to pay February salary.

U-TURN ON CHARGE AGAINST MLA HENRY

Earlier in the morning, taking a U-turn on the controversy over the exchange of ‘hot words’ between the MC workers and the four city MLAS at the protest site last week, the workers blamed MLA Pargat Singh for the incident saying MLA Bawa Henry, who used the term, ‘dafa ho’ (bugg off) for a worker, was not entirely at fault and was allegedly instigated by someone else, obviously hinting at Pargat Singh.

“The words or gestures that Bawa Henry used that day were not his own, but he was incited by someone to act that way,’ said Chandan Grewal, president of the safaikaramchari workers union.

One Vicky Sahota, who is a clerk in the MC office, had complained that MLA Bawa Henry had used the term ‘dafa ho’ (bugg off) for him on Wednesday.

Defending Bawa Henry, Grewal said that he knew the Henry family for years and they have always stood up for the rights of the Valmiki community. Sources said Bawa Henry had called Grewal on phone and apologised to him for the incident. Later, Avtar Heny, former minister and Congress leader and father of Bawa Henry, came to the protest site, apologised on behalf of his son.