Striking sanitation workers, protesting against the non-payment of salaries and arrears by the three municipal bodies of Delhi, announced on Saturday that their stir would continue for an indefinite period until their demands were met.
As the strike entered the fourth day, the Delhi Government mobilised 91 Public Works Department (PWD) teams to lift garbage strewn across the city by the sanitation workers.
Meanwhile, as a part of their protest the workers dumped garbage outside Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel’s residence and inside the NMC Deputy Commissioner’s office at Karol Bagh. A minor scuffle also broke out at Mayur Vihar between the agitating workers and the local councilor.
“We will continue our strike till our demands are met... These people (Government) should realise our demands are genuine,” Sanjay Gehlot, president of the Mazdoor Vikas Sanyukt Morcha said.
Gehlot said the workers were planning to up the ante and throw ink on Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra’s face. “We will blacken the face of Kapil Mishra on Monday to protest against the Government.”
“It was a symbolic strike for three days but since no one from the Government assured us that our demands would be considered, we have decided to boycott work for an indefinite period,” Gehlot added.
In more bad news, over 7,000 doctors, 10,000 nurses and paramedical staff of hospitals run by the three municipal corporations also went on an indefinite strike on Saturday in protest against the non-payment of their salaries and arrears. The strike resulted in major inconvenience to patients.
In more trouble for the Government around 12,000 engineering staff of the civic bodies also joined the stir.
The national Capital witnessed protests in 272 wards on Saturday and laxmi Nagar, Mandawali, Mayur Vihar, Shahdara, Okhla and the entire Trans-Yamuna area was reeking with the smell of rotting garbage lying uncollected in dumps and on the roads.
Amid the protests, major traffic jams were witnessed across the Capital as garbage in the middle of roads obstructed smooth flow of traffic. Meanwhile, in a bid to counter the effects of the strike, the Delhi Government deployed hundreds of PWD workers to clear the city of garbage.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is in Bengaluru for naturopathy treatment, said he had issued directions to clear the city of garbage and accused the BJP of playing politics on the issue.
“I have directed Govt to deploy as many PWD trucks as are needed to lift garbage. Public should not be inconvenienced,” he tweeted.
lambasting the BJP-led civic bodies, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that cleaning Delhi was most important and the PWD had started removing garbage from different areas.
“As many as 91 PWD vehicles are lifting waste across the Capital. Around ten labourers have been deployed in each vehicle. We have also informed the police about our drive and asked them to provide security to the PWD staff,” he said.
“In the Budget, we had set aside money to be given to all three municipal corporations in which there were different components under Plan and non-Plan heads. Money for salaries of employees for 12 months was also mentioned under both heads,” he added.
Delhi Government has been maintaining that it has provided adequate funds of over Rs 2,187 crore to the three municipal corporations in the current fiscal. It has alleged that a “salary scam” has led to the current crisis.