Teachers working at schools run by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) staged a protest outside the civic body’s headquarters on Monday over the issue of non-payment of salaries since December 2021.
Kuldeep Singh Khatri, president of Shikshak Nyay Manch, an association for teachers under the East civic body, said the teachers were facing severe financial struggles, while the BJP-led civic body had “no money to pay the teachers.”
“Previously, the teachers had protested outside the Delhi BJP headquarters over the issue of unpaid salaries. If our situation does not improve, then we will protest outside the BJP’s national headquarters. They are deliberately withholding our salaries, despite claiming that the unification of civic bodies will improve our financial situation,” said Mr. Khatri, adding that thousands of teachers will continue to protest.
Protests over the issue of non-payment of salaries have become a recurring instance at the civic body over the past months. When The Hindu reached out to the EDMC Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal (BJP) for a comment, he attributed the delay in payments of salaries to the Delhi government “not paying the pending funds” to the civic body.
Previously, a senior EDMC official said that salaries of all East civic body employees from Group A to Group C — including that of the Commissioner and other senior officials — have not been paid since November 2021, “because the government is yet to release the pending funds.”
“Since April 18, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has been sitting on the file regarding the release of our [EDMC] pending funds. This is the reason behind our struggle to run the schools. The pending fund is our right and they should pay it,” said Mr. Aggarwal.
However, EDMC Leader of Opposition, Manoj Tyagi (AAP), dismissed Mr. Aggarwal’s claims, saying that the Delhi government had made timely payment of funds to the civic body.
He added, “The government has no pending dues towards the civic body. We will continue to pay our part as and when required. But the larger question is why did the Central Government unify the three civic bodies when it could solve their financial crisis?”
