The sanitation workers’ unions in east Delhi finally ended their strike after 15 days on Wednesday after the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) agreed to review the release of their arrears, pending since 2003, and consider their other demands.
The leaders of the MCD Swachhta Karamchari Union met with east Delhi Mayor Neema Bhagat, Standing Committee chairperson Pravesh Sharma, Commissioner Ranbir Singh, and senior officials on Wednesday to discuss their demands.
Second strike this year
Union president Sanjay Gehlot said that apart from payment of dues to sanitation workers, they had been demanding regularisation of workers, re-employment of workers who were removed in 2006, organisation of union elections, and representation of union members in ward committees.
“We have been assured that certain demands will be met immediately and for the remaining, a review will be organised and a decision will most likely come in our favour. If not, we will not hesitate in resuming our strike,” said Mr. Gehlot.
This is the second such strike this year, and the eighth since 2015.
Though the BJP-ruled municipalities have time and again reiterated that there is no need to reunify the corporations, officials said that the financial crunch of the civic bodies and the problems of lower-rung staff could be solved if the three corporations become one unit again.
Reunification a solution?
The north civic body and the EDMC faced severe financial crunch post-trifurcation. Last year, the EDMC showed a deficit of ₹2,041 crore, while the north body incurred a deficit of ₹2,794 crore.
Only the south corporation (SDMC) showed a surplus of ₹15.52 crore.
A north corporation official said: “The north corporation runs a debt of ₹1,000 crore per year due to its expenditures on salaries and maintaining other services. This is much higher that what they earn. Similarly, the EDMC runs a debt of about ₹500-600 crore per year. Only the SDMC was able to meet its expenses, but it's not making profits.”
Senior officials said that when the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was trifurcated in 2012, the number of workers vis-à-vis funds required to maintain the workforce in the long run was not given much thought. The result is that at present the civic bodies are top heavy, while there isn’t enough lower-rung staff, and the money to pay the salaries of the existing ones is not enough.
