EDMC suspends 71 striking workers

Thousands will participate in a protest march that will start from Jantar Mantar till Parliament on Monday. SANJAY GAHLOT,

MCD worker’s union

NEWDELHI: The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) on Saturday suspended 71 sanitation workers and issued show cause notices to 100 contractual workers, asking them why they should not be terminated for not getting back to work.

The move came a day after the municipality issued a notice, warning all striking workers to return to work or face the consequences. “We have suspended 31 permanent sanitation workers in Shahdara south and 40 in Shahdara north. While on the one hand these workers were not joining work, they were instigating others. We have forwarded the suspension orders to their sanitation superintendents,” said a senior EDMC official.

On Saturday, the sanitation strike entered the 25 day. Garbage can be seen strewn on all major and arterial roads of east Delhi, which have not been cleaned for the last 25 days.

The sanitation employees had been protesting against the nonpayment of their salaries and pending arrears. Their main demands include regular payment of salaries, clearance of dues, regularisation of contractual sanitation workers.

Despite the EDMC mayor’s assurance to regularise all contractual workers and release pending arrears to sanitation unions, the strike was not called off completely.

While one section of the sanitation workers agreed to return to work, the other refused to call off the agitation until a written order is issued by commissioner, accepting all these demands

Sanjay Gahlot, president, MCD Swachhata Karmchari Union (MCDSKU), said sanitation workers would not resume work until all their demands were met. “Sanitations unions, who had called off the strike on Friday, again joined the striking workers on Saturday. On Monday, thousands of us will participate in a protest march that will start from Jantar Mantar till Parliament,” he said.