The supervisory and sanitation staff of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) called off their strike on Tuesday after the civic body assured them that all their demands will be met.
The Deputy Mayor of the East Corporation, Bipin Bihari Singh, along with Additional Commissioner Vivek Pandey met the leaders of the All Municipal Corporation Staff Union and All Municipal Corporation Sanitation Supervisors’ Union on Tuesday to discuss their demands.
The pending salaries of two months have already been released and will be credited in two days, the EDMC said.
They were also assured that within 15 days the supervisory positions lying vacant will be filled and that the process of promotions have been initiated and the list will be out by July 15.
“They had also demanded cashless medical facility cards, though this could not be done immediately, we have assured them that this will be looked into once the financial condition of the civic body improves,” said Mr. Pandey.
Invoking ESMA
He also said that the union representatives were asked to place their demands through a single registered union, so that coordination between the civic body and the workers become easier in future.
East Delhi Mayor, Neema Bhagat said that though the corporation bent down to their demands, a major reason for the unions to call off their strike was the invoking of Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) on Monday.
“We had written to the Delhi government to evoke ESMA as the final resort, when the union members were not allowing the sanitation staff to work. They did get a little scared after we threatened to take action, and I was getting calls since morning to resolve the issue,” Ms. Bhagat said.
Mukesh Vaidya, president of the unions, said that the workers will get back to duty from Wednesday.
He said that the unions have no intention of disrupting work but the corporation should also consider the condition of lower-rung staff.
