The sanitation workers strike rocked the last sitting of Haryana Assembly’s monsoon session on Tuesday and uncertainty over breaking the deadlock continued even as the Nayab Singh Saini-led BJP government blamed Congress for “vitiating” brotherhood in the state and backing “legally untenable demand” to regularise contractual sanitation workforce.
Much before the Congress could raise the issue, the government fielded two cabinet ministers to apprise the House about the steps taken to break the logjam that began on August 6 and pre-empted Opposition’s plan to air the issue through an adjournment motion that Speaker Harvinder Kalyan refused to permit.
Soon after the Question Hour, urban local bodies minister Vipul Goel made an impromptu statement in the House, listing the steps taken by the government to end the stir. The move drew strong objections from the Congress, which questioned how the minister could make a statement when the Opposition had already sent an adjournment motion on the issue to the Speaker.
Following a number of rounds of talks held with the striking employees, Goel informed the House, the government has addressed 12 out of the total 13 demands. The minister said six meetings were held with the striking workers, the latest meeting was held on Monday night.
“If the government decides to strictly follow rules, they (sanitation workers) cannot go on strike...but we are dealing with them with complete sensitivity...we have accepted every demand except regularisation of jobs,” Goel said, urging Congress not to politicise the matter.
{{/usCountry}}“If the government decides to strictly follow rules, they (sanitation workers) cannot go on strike...but we are dealing with them with complete sensitivity...we have accepted every demand except regularisation of jobs,” Goel said, urging Congress not to politicise the matter.
{{/usCountry}}The Congress, however, kept raising slogans in the House. Amid noisy scenes, Speaker Harvinder Kalyan ruled that the Congress could not prevent a minister from making a statement.
Unconvinced with the Speaker’s stance, leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the Congress had submitted an adjournment motion on the sanitation workers’ strike and questioned how can the government respond until the motion is taken up.
“Minister can give a statement,” the Speaker reiterated. “Under which rule minister was allowed to speak,” Raghuvir Kadian, a former Speaker and veteran Congress MLA, asked even as Kalyan again said that minister’s reply was well within the rules.
As the din continued, the chief minister interjected, accusing the Congress of politicising a sensitive issue. “We are trying to resolve the matter,” he said, adding that job regularisation demand needs legal backing before any decision is taken.
The Congress members were on their feet no sooner than cabinet minister Krishan Kumar Bedi, who had held talks with representatives of the sanitation workers, pitched in. “Congress doesn’t want this strike to end. I shall expose the Congress before the public,” Bedi said, accusing the Congress of instigating the sanitation workforce.
“The matter is very serious, but the Congress is trying to vitiate the atmosphere of the state,” Bedi said, while Congress members continued their protest and kept interrupting the minister.
Bedi said 12 of the sanitation workers’ 13 demands had been accepted and that the only major issue now was their demand about regularisation of service. He said the workers wanted the government to formulate a policy to regularise employees who had completed two years of service.
“Can the government do this?” Bedi asked, saying he had with folded hands appealed to the striking workers to call off the agitation.
He said the workers were insisting on regularisation on the basis of a two-year service policy, but such a demand was not legally feasible. “This is not feasible as it will not stand scrutiny of the law. No such policy exists anywhere in the country,” he said while Congress members continued to raise slogans and put counter-questions.
At this point, the CM again intervened, saying the Congress was wrong in supporting the demand for regularisation on the basis of two years of service. “Your stance is wrong...this is a wrong plea you are taking in the House,” Saini said and Bedi hit back at the Congress, saying that when it was in power, the then government had formulated a policy requiring 10 years of service for regularisation, whereas the party was now asking the BJP government to frame a two-year policy for sanitation workers.
“Legally, the demand to regularise the services of sanitation workers is untenable. The government is ready to hold talks. We are urging them to resolve this matter amicably, but Congress wants the stir to continue,” Bedi said as his remarks led to prolonged noisy scenes, with Congress members raising slogans and repeatedly questioning the treasury benches.
The Speaker later gave his ruling on the adjournment motion, saying that such a motion should be moved at the first available opportunity. Kalyan declined to allow the Congress to move the adjournment motion, bringing curtains on the issue amid protests by the Opposition.
But the matter kept cropping up during the Zero Hour also.
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“Haryana government is working with urgency to resolve the issues concerning safai karamcharis...matters under consideration of the courts cannot be resolved at the government level. The state government will take appropriate action in accordance with the directions issued by the courts...government is finding solutions...but Congress is trying to politicise the issue,” chief minister Nayab Singh Saini.