Civic contract workers’ hope of permanent jobs crashes

Despite resolution in 2014, civic chief, mayor say sanitation workers will not be made permanent

CBD BELAPUR: A pre-poll gimmick of the Nationalist Congress Party that passed a resolution in the NMMC general body proposing permanent jobs for contract workers of NMMC permanent has been exposed .

Municipal commissioner Dinesh Waghmare and mayor Sudhakar Sonawane now say that it is not possible. The general body of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation ( NMMC) had on August 8, 2014, prior to the Lok Sabha elections unanimously approved a resolution to make around 9,500 contract workers working in its various departments on a permanent basis.

The house had unanimously approved the proposal with the opposition too supporting it. NMMC had then sent the resolution to the state general administration and urban development departments for approval.

The Shiv Sena delegation led by its deputy leader Vijay Nahata and opposition leader Vijay Chougule, raised the issue on Friday. Waghmare said, “The contract workers cannot be made permanent as the Supreme Court has laid guidelines for appointment and which cannot be implemented in case of these workers.”

He said, “We have formed a committee of experts under the mayor to look into the issue of common wages for common work. It is the responsibility of the contractor to give them mini- mum wages.”

Waghmare said, “We are looking into the legal angles through which increased compensation can be given to the contractors for enabling increased payment to the workers.”

Ruling out permanent jobs for the workers, Sonawane said, “Permanent jobs cannot be given as 80% of the workers are over the age of 50 and hence do not qualify. Should we implement the policy for only 20% workers and sack the rest?”

He added that the NMMC is the only civic body that has been giving common wages for common work.

“We are looking at ways to help increase their wages and we are committed to it. No decision will be taken in a hurry,” said Sonawane.