The sanitation workers of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) who are on strike for the last three weeks protested at Jantar Mantar on Monday, demanding regularisation of temporary workers, timely disbursal of salary and cashless medical card. The workers alleged that police resorted to a lathi charge during the protest. However, Delhi Police official said a “mild force” was used by police personnel to disperse the crowd after it went out of control.
President of MCD Swachhata Karmchari Union Sanjay Gahlot said the strike was on and that an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was burned during the protest at the Jantar Mantar.
“The police resorted to lathicharge and some of the workers got injured in it,” he alleged. He also said that the workers would organise a gherao the mayor’s office on Tuesday in Patparganj,” Gahlot said.
Denying the charges, the senior officer said, “Police personnel only used mild force to contain the protesters.
Meanwhile, the BJP-led East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) on Friday had issued a circular directing all the sanitation workers to resume work from October 6. “All the sanitation workers are directed to resume work from October 6, failing which they will be removed from their post,” the circular said.
The EDMC has around 16,000 workers, half of whom are permanent employees.
On September 26, it had decided to begin the process for permanent employment of contractual sanitation workers who were recruited after March 31, 1998
Last week, the sanitation workers of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) staged a protest near the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to press for their demands.
The EDMC has around 16,000 workers, half of whom are permanent employees. The BJP-led EDMC on September 26 had decided to begin the process for permanent employment of contractual sanitation workers who were recruited after March 31, 1998.
Terming the lathi-charge on sanitation workers of EDMC by Delhi Police as ‘undemocratic’, Delhi Congress President Ajay Maken said that the event is a ‘violation of human rights’.