Delhi: 11 agitations by North MCD teachers in four years, yet salaries pending

Teachers’ union says they will continue their strike even as other staff bodies have suspended stir

More than 7,000 teachers in North Delhi Municipal Corporation-run schools have said that they do not agree with the decision by a confederation of staff unions of the civic body to withdraw a strike against non-payment of salaries and dearness allowance, claiming that they do not trust the assurances by the civic body.

The teachers have said that they will continue boycotting online classes until the salaries are credited their bank accounts. (Picture for representation only/Raj K Raj-HT)

Shikshak Nyay Manch (SNM) – an umbrella body of teachers’ association of the three municipal corporations in Delhi, in fact, alleged a tacit understanding between the Confederation of Municipal Corporation of Delhi Employees Union (CMCDEU) and the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled North MCD.

According to Kuldeep Singh Khatri, the president of SNM, teachers of North MCD schools have gone on 11 strikes in the last four years. “But barring two occasions, our grievances were not addressed,” Khatri said.

Nearly 10,000 employees of the North MCD that included teachers, doctors, sanitation workers and paramedical staff called off a 24-hour strike organised on Monday after the civic body assured them that the dues will be cleared within a time frame provided to the staff union leaders during talks between the two sides.

The teachers, however, have said that they will continue boycotting online classes until the salaries are credited their bank accounts. They have also been demanding that the civic body should provide clarity on the ₹500 per month internet charge.

Khatri said that after the North MCD administration de-recognised four teachers’ unions -- Delhi Adhyapak Parishad, Prathamik Shikshak SC/ST Union, Akhil Delhi Prathmik Shikshak Sangh and Nagar Nigam Prathmik Shikshak Sangh -- in 2015, the teachers were left with no forum to raise their grievances. “After three years of struggle, the teachers finally formed a non-political platform SNM in January 2018. Since then, we have staged as many as 11 demonstrations, including dharnas and hunger strikes, at different venues. But barring on two occasions, all our appeals fell on deaf ears,” he said.

Khatri said the circular issued on Monday by the North MCD was not clear on payment schedule. “We have four months’ salary dues now, but they have assured to pay for only two months. Even about the payment of outstanding dearness allowances arrears, the circular states that it will be released as per the availability of funds. They are asking us to take online classes, but they have no answer to under which head they will bear the internet charges of ₹500 per month. As far as the civic body’s claims that employees had called off their strike on Monday, are not the teachers their employees? It was like a match-fixing, where all the concerned stakeholders were not taken into consideration. Their assurances are nothing more than a ploy to delay the payment till the coming municipal elections, so that the next dispensation faces the issue. If our demands are not fulfilled by this week, will will have no option but to demonstrate before the BJP national headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg,” Khatri said.

Vinay Tanwar, a teacher in a North MCD school, said the municipal officials promised to pay the September salary by Monday, but no fund has been released as yet. “At the same time, the North MCD mayor said that they will release funds for November’s salary of the Safai karamcharis. We are unable to understand the calculation of these leaders that if they don’t have ₹60 crores to pay our October salary, how they can give ₹77 crore to safai karamchari for November’s salary,” he said.

Pawan Kumar, another North MCD teacher, said the teachers will no more rely on the written or verbal assurances given by the civic body. “Can they publicly admit that how many promises have they fulfilled so far? They have now become habitual of making empty promises,” he said.

When contacted, Raja Iqbal Singh, the North MCD mayor, said the civic body officials are trying their best to find an amicable solution to the problems of the employees and pensioners. “We are not getting our share of funds from the Delhi government. Despite running out of funds, we are trying to make regular payments to them. I hope that things will be normal in a month or so,” he said.

Senior AAP leader and the party’s MCD in-charge, Durgesh Pathak said the BJP-ruled municipal bodies were a testament to the high-headedness and corruption among the BJP leaders. “There are number of areas in which the BJP-ruled MCDs have failed to deliver. But they have only two ways to handle everything -- either blame it on the AAP government or fool the employees,” he said.

AP Khan, the convener of the CMCDEU, said the strike was called off on Monday taking cognizance of the positive approach of the civic body administration “Since the municipal authorities have sought three weeks, to redress all our grievances, all the unions of confederation have unanimously accepted their proposal. If they do not fulfil their promises , we will decide the further course of agitation after that. We are not supported or affiliated to any political party,” he said.