Sanitation workers continue stir as meeting fails to yield results

NEW DELHI : Attempt to end the ongoing strike of sanitation workers, mostly daily wagers, on Tuesday by local bodies failed to bring results.

During the meeting, North Corporation officials offered to take 1,000 sanitation workers on rolls every month. But the offer didn’t pacify the striking workers as they demanded regularisation of all daily wagers in one go. There are 20,000 daily wagers in the three corporations, including 7181 in south, 7500 in north and the rest in east.

The meeting lasted for over four hours and was attended by the mayors of the north, south and east municipal corporations.

“We are facing a financial crisis and are not in a position to absorb all the daily wagers in one go. We have given them one day to think about the proposal ,” Tilak Raj Kataria, standing committee chairman, North Corporation, said.

“We had a meeting with the chief minister on March 2 where he promised to pay all the funds to MCDS required for regularisation of staff. So, why are the MCDS are putting conditions now?,” Rajendra Snothiya, general secretary of Municipal Safai Kamgar Congress, said.

On Thursday, Delhi urban development minister Satyendar Jain directed all three MCDS commissioners to initiate action for regularisation of sanitation workers. The proposal was passed by the Delhi Assembly on Wednesday where chief minister Arvind Keriwal had asked Jain to direct the local bodies to regularise sanitation staff.

Responding to the letter, North MCD mayor Preety Agarwal said “We had a meeting with the union of sanitation workers and assured them that if Delhi Government releases appropriate funds to meet the expenses, then we will immediately regularise all safai karamcharis.”