Sanitation workers back on strike, say govt misled them Swaraj Abhiyan wants to bunch unions into one
PAYMENT PROMISE Threaten to hold massive protests, dump garbage on roads during the upcoming festival season
NEW DELHI:Just 12 hours after they called off their threeday strike, sanitation worker unions rolled back the decision and resumed the stir, accusing the Delhi government of misleading them.
The workers threatened to carry out massive protests during the festive season and dump garbage on the streets if their demands were not met.
“We had met Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar and Dilip Pandey (Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson) on Sunday and they had assured that funds for salary and arrears will be released within a week. But in the official statement, they have retracted claiming that municipal funds will be released in December,” said Sanjay Gehlot, president, Swatantra Majdoor Vikas Sayunkt Morcha.
Rajinder Mewati, general secretary of United Front of MCD Employees, echoed the view. “If the government doesn’t want the city to turn into a pile of garbage, it must pay us our money,” he said.
Delhi government officials said they had reached a consensus with the protestors on Sunday, and the continuation of the strike suggested political motives.
“These union leaders had agreed with the Delhi government and called off the strike. Assurance was given that money will be released and attempts are being made to again contact them,” said a Delhi government official.
The national capital had witnessed a similar strike in June which left the city choking over piles of garbage.
Delhi’s poor Swachh Bharat rankings, wherein the municipal corporation governed area had ranked 398 out of 476 cities, was attributed to the strike.
Meanwhile corporation heads said that attempts were on to avert such a situation during the festival season.
“We are currently talking to the union leaders and the workers, and are trying to persuade them into calling off the strike. We have also approached the Delhi government asking them to release our funds so that arrear payments can be made to the workers,” said EDMC mayor Harshdeep Malhotra.
North MCD commissioner Praveen Kumar Gupta also asserted that the situation was under control and that efforts were on to ensure the city’s sanitation conditions are not affected. WORKERS’ ALLEGATIONS AGAINST GOVERNMENT That govt misled them into calling off the strike Promised to allocate crore in a week, but later changed stance PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES
East Delhi: Adopted night cleaning, daily cleaning of community dustbins
North Delhi: Workers warned against going on strike, helplines improved
South Delhi: Sanitation helpline centres established for quick garbage problem redressal NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party’s splinter group Swaraj Abhiyan said it would hold talks with the miffed sanitation workers’ groups to aggregate them into a single union with democratically elected members.
Senior leaders in the party suggested that they wanted to give the workers a bigger platform to directly put forward their demands to the government.
“A union should not be politically backed, although the same might not be the case given the current situation of unions and union leaders in Delhi. While the various political parties are now battling out with the help of unions, no one really cares about the worker’ rights,” said a senior leader of Swaraj Abhiyan.
The group pointed out that the AAP government, while accusing the Centre of treating Delhi government unfairly, was meting out the same treatment to the municipal corporations.
“The municipal corporations and the Delhi government have both washed their hands off the issue. Citizens should come first and political games should take a back seat although the same is not visible here,” said Yogendra Yadav, senior leader, Swaraj Abhiyan.
Sources in the group suggest the move comes in line with its decision to constitute ward-wise teams in Delhi before the municipal elections slated for 2017.
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL WITNESSED A SIMILAR STRIKE IN JUNE, WHICH LEFT THE CITY CHOKING OVER PILES OF GARBAGE