Contract workers keen to teach Kejriwal a lesson
Contract workers, who are believed to have rallied behind AAP in the Delhi Assembly elections, are angry that their concerns were not addressed during CM’s 49-day tenure.
Bureau among others, around two weeks ago. Sources said that the ED would help the EC keep a tab on black money transactions, and the Income Tax department would track undisclosed incomes being put to use by the candidates. The DRI will help curb the influx of fake Indian currency in the country before the elections which could be used for bribing voters. “The DRI has previously come across cases in which fake Indian currency was used to pay off poor labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar working in Punjab in lieu of their remuneration. We will keep an eye over such activities. This is a precautionary measure,” said a senior DRI official. The DRI recently seized fake Indian currency worth Rs 15 lakh at the Colombo airport. “This was a surprise as Colombo is not a common route used for such transactions. The raid was successful due to assistance from the Sri Lankan authorities, who acted on a tip-off we provided them,” the official said. Nepal, Bangladesh, and Kuala Lumpur are some of the destinations from where fake Indian currency is routed into the country. Cambodia has also emerged as a new destination which could be due to strict measures put in place to check the illegal practice via the traditional routes which include Dubai and Hong Kong. The DRI, as part of its assistance to the EC, will be “plugging the loopholes” in the surveillance mechanism and work together with the customs, airport and railways authorities, apart from the local police, it is reliably learnt. Lakhs of contract workers across Delhi who had hoped that former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party would make their jobs permanent want to teach him a lesson in the next elections, both Lok Sabha and Assembly. They are furious after the activistturned-politician “sank their cause for good” by resigning.
Dr Rachna, a leader of the Temporary Teachers’ Union, and who teaches at the Government Girls Senior Secondary school in Brahmpuri, said AAP’s mega haul in the 2013 Assembly elections was because of the contract workers who believed in its promises. “Kejriwal did not quit on the Jan Lokpal issue. He used the Lokpal issue to look like a political martyr so that he can get a wild card entry into the Lok Sabha elections. We will teach him a lesson this time when he makes more hollow promises and seeks our votes,” warned Rachna, who is a post graduate in Human Development but is forced to work on a daily wage of Rs 600, with no paid leave.
“He made us give up our agitation by promising to set up a committee. He promised that no one among the 12,000 guest teachers and contract teachers would lose their jobs. Then he gave us the slip and several contract teachers lost their jobs,” she said.
Dr Rachna said that the school she teaches in employs only 27 regular teachers and 42 guest or contractual teachers. “Some schools even have 120 teachers in the guest or contract category,” she said.
The angst is shared by the temporary work force of bus conductors and drivers deployed in the Delhi Transport Corporation.
“Arvind Kejriwal should have realised that Delhi’s nearly seven lakh strong contract workforce across various sectors had believed in his pre-poll promise of regularising their jobs,” said Ramesh Vats, the president of the DTC Employees Congress.
“The AAP lacked resolve. We were promised that the issue would be resolved within a month. Kejriwal’s government lasted 49 days, yet they failed to issue directions. And now the nearly 12,000 DTC work-force of contract employees are left at sea,” said Vats.
DTC workers’ union leaders said they would now approach the DTC management and the Delhi Lieutenant Governor.
DTC conductors get paid Rs 374 a day and drivers Rs 4 per km. The latter must clock above 2,700 km a month, but if the miles covered go beyond 3,500 km, they are not paid for the extra work. They do not get paid holidays or sick leaves.
Ashwani, a conductor aged 27 years, said, “Kejriwal has let us down. I had hoped that we would be absorbed into regular service as most of us joined about three and a half years ago. Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and other AAP leaders had said that they understood our woes. But instead of fulfilling the promises made to us, they are now eyeing the national arena,” said Ashwani.
“We are allowed to work 20 days a month. The rest are unpaid days. Even in these 20 days, we do not get to work for about ten days because there are not enough buses. We would like Kejriwal to tell us how our families can survive if we earn so haphazardly,” said Tarun, another bus conductor.