The much-anticipated meeting of the Municipal Corporation Haridwar (MCH) Board was held here on Tuesday during which 91 points were taken up. However, the meeting was partly marred by stir launched by few employees belonging to a union. The agitators shouted slogans against the MCH administration. They alleged that salary of the casual sanitation workers has been put on hold. They also demanded regularsation of the service who had been working on ad-hoc basis.
They further charged that removal of 46 safai employees was illegal.
With things seemingly spiralling out of control, Mayor Manoj Garg allowed two of the agitators to attend the meeting. However, their demands did not figure in course of meeting. They warned MCH Board that they would resort to strike if their demands were not met.
BJP members played queer roles with a section steering clear of the issue while others throwing weight behind the agitating employees.
Employee union leaders Sunil Rajur and Ramesh Chander Chachar along with some employees entered the venue where the board meeting was on. They demanded immediate payment of the ad-hoc workers' salaries. Notably, the sanitation workers have not been receiving salary for the past six months, they said.
In the previous board meeting, proposal for the construction of Saheed Park at Tibdi area was passed by 11-9 votes. However, the area earmarked for the project is under occupation of the encroachers. Some of the BJP members were allegedly backing the encroachers.
Tourists to pay more
From April 1 this year, pilgrims and tourist staying in hotels, dharamshala, ashrams and lodges spread over the district would have to pay extra money. Those running these places will collect Rs5 from each of the boarders. The amount will be deposited under the head of tourism fund.
The amount will be spent on boosting tourist facility. The places where the pilgrims and tourists would get 10 per cent share of the total amount to be collected by them. This has been decided in course of the civic board meeting held on Tuesday.