The garbage problem in east Delhi may spread to other parts of the Capital as sanitation workers of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation threatened to join the ongoing strike by the safai karamcharis of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).
Teachers, engineers and medical staff have also said that they may join the stir.
Mounds of garbage on the streets of east Delhi grew bigger on Monday as sanitation workers of the EDMC refused to end their strike despite the civic body claiming that it had started to disburse pending salaries.
The sanitation staff had gone on strike from January 6 to push for the release of their salaries.
The workers had not been paid for two months as the EDMC claimed it didn’t have the funds.
Fifth such strike in 2 years
With January 5 being a public holiday and the subsequent strike, garbage has been collecting in east Delhi for five days.
This is the fifth time that garbage collection has come to standstill due to a strike by sanitation workers in the past two years, as the EDMC has been repeatedly falling behind on salaries.
“There is a political game between the AAP government and the BJP-led EDMC. The people of east Delhi are stuck in the middle and are suffering due to the garbage crisis,” said B.S. Vohra, president of the east Delhi RWAs Joint Front (Federation). Representatives of the front met Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday to ask for a solution to the problem.
Blame game
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal blamed the BJP leadership of the EDMC for financial mismanagement. “BJP playing dirty politics wid Delhi. Their councillors siphoned funds meant 4 salaries of MCD employees n then throw garbage on Del roads (sic),” tweeted Mr. Kejriwal.
Jitender Chaudhary, chairperson of the EDMC’s Standing Committee, said that the civic body had received money from the government and had started releasing salaries.
“But this is a temporary solution. Till the Delhi government implements the recommendations of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission, we will continue to have financial problems,” Mr. Chaudhary said.
The workers, on their part, refused to call off the strike.
On Sunday, Mr. Sisodia had said that the Delhi government has released ₹119 crore for the EDMC as an advance.
“Mr. Sisodia is trying to betray us again. Last time we went on strike, the government promised to give ₹1,110 crore. But, so far nothing has happened. We want a permanent solution. We don’t want to go on strike every few months for our salaries,” said Sanjay Gehlot, of the MCD Swachhta Karamchari Union.
Rajendra Mewati, general secretary of the United Front of MCD Employees, added that the sanitation workers of the north corporation will be joining the strike in the next few days after which teachers, engineers and medical staff will also join the stir.
Late night confusion
Confusion prevailed as the EDMC said in a late night statement that the strike had been called off and garbage trucks had been deployed to remove the accumulated trash. However, workers denied this and termed it as an attempt by the authorities to create divisions.
