Haryana sanitation staff set to return to work today

Referring to an agreement reached on May 13, Shastri alleged that officials had failed to implement it, forcing employees to launch another agitation that lasted 37 days and disrupted sanitation services across the state

The Haryana Municipal Employees Federation on Sunday said that they are hopeful that over 700 employees who participated in the recent agitation will return to their duties on Monday.

The union leader also demanded that the government create six lakh permanent posts and initiate recruitment to meet the state’s sanitation workforce requirements (HT Photo)

Earlier in the day, Nagar Palika Karmchari Sangh Haryana state president Naresh Shastri, while speaking to reporters in Rohtak, alleged that despite an agreement reached with chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on September 11 on 16 demands, officials and contractors were not implementing the decisions.

He claimed that officials are also not letting employees who participated in the agitation rejoin their duties. He said that an agreement had also been reached on the withdrawal of cases registered against employees during the agitation.

However, he claimed that employees in around 10 municipalities, municipal corporations, and municipal councils were still not being allowed to resume work. They also threatened to launch a fresh statewide strike if the employees failed to return to their duties by Monday.

However, later in the day, commissioner and secretary to the Haryana government’s urban local bodies department, Ashok Kumar Meena, said, “All the issues have already been sorted out, and all employees will return to duty.” Also, Naresh Shastri told HT that they received a positive response from the minister on Sunday and are hopeful all employees will be allowed to return to duty from Monday.

Referring to an agreement reached on May 13, Shastri alleged that officials had failed to implement it, forcing employees to launch another agitation that lasted 37 days and disrupted sanitation services across the state.

The union leader also demanded that the government create six lakh permanent posts and initiate recruitment to meet the state’s sanitation workforce requirements. He claimed that Haryana currently had around 2.8 lakh permanent sanitation workers, 1.2 lakh workers engaged through the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam and nearly 50,000 temporary workers.

Shastri said that indoor conferences would be organised in all districts from September 22 to press for an end to the contract system. “A national rally would also be held in Delhi on December 12, in which Haryana employees would participate,” he said.