Delhi: East MCD school teachers declare strike over salary delay

A majority of the employees in East Delhi Municipal Corporation were last paid for the month of November in 2021, making it the second longest period of salary pendency being observed during the last decade after trifurcation

The municipal teachers’ union has called for a joint strike from Monday to protest against the delay in salary disbursement, noting that the pendency has touched five months for teachers and seven months for pensioners in East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) schools.

Municipal teachers protest in November 2020. (Raj K Raj/HT Archive)

A majority of the employees in East Delhi Municipal Corporation were last paid for the month of November in 2021, making it the second longest period of salary pendency being observed during the last decade after trifurcation.

Ramniwas Solanki, who heads Nagar Nigam Shikshak Sangh -- a teachers’ union of all three MCDs, said the situation is now becoming unbearable for many families. “There is five months pendency in East MCD and two months in North MCD. The situation is dire for thousands of families as employees are unable to pay their house rents, loans and school fee of their wards, on top of which banks are imposing penalties. Despite such high inflation, our dues have not been cleared for almost half a year. We have called for a strike and joint protest at EDMC headquarter on May 9, 2022 (Monday),”said Solanki.

The teachers’ union has also written to the Union home ministry to intervene and provide a financial package for the upcoming unification of the three civic bodies.

Vibha Singh, principal of Gandhi Nagar municipal school, said the corporation keeps issuing circulars about sanitation measures and other directives but it does not issue any funds for it.

“During the entire pandemic we were sending worksheets to students and even the photocopies were made with personal funds. Situation has never been this bad. Shopkeepers are refusing to give daily use items. People are unable to fund their treatment costs. Just a few days ago, we had an employee who was in tears because he could not do anything on their ward’s birthday. This is a humanitarian crisis and no one is bothered,” she said.

Singh said that teachers can no longer keep running schools with their personal funds: “Our drinking water cooler in the school needs to be repaired and it will need ₹14,000. The corporation is not even providing contingency funds. We can’t even run our homes without salaries, how long can we keep funding the operational matters.”

The Nagar Nigam Shikshak Sangh in a statement said that other employee unions have also supported their call to join the protest.

AP Khan, convener of the Confederation of MCD employees unions, said that they support the protest call made by teachers. “It will be their platform but we will support the call. Pensioners have not be paid for seven months in EDMC and three months in North MCD. There has been no development after notification of MCD unification bill. If financial support is not provided, it will only prove that the unification was done for political purpose,” he added.

Noting that the longest salary delay was six months in 2020, on account of the pandemic, Solanki said the situation is “back to square one”.

Lalit Goswami, a municipal teacher deployed in Bhajanpura, said that many of his colleagues are unable to pay the school fee of their children. “People are getting reminders for paying school fee. We also have to pay EMIs on loans and now even banks have started refusing to give loans to us... The salary crisis started in 2014 but the delay was usually for one-two months, and has rarely reached such a crisis situation. We do not know if unification will solve this...,” he added.

EDMC mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal admitted there is a salary delay but added that the corporation is working to sort out the issues. “We have still not received the first quarter of basic tax assignment share from the government. This is why unification is being carried out. As soon as we get the first quarter share, we will be able to release salaries for two months. We hope that the salary delay crisis will soon be permanently resolved after unification,” he added.

The President has already signed into law the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which seeks to unify the three civic bodies in the national capital. The unification is expected to be initiated near the end of current terms of the three corporations between 18-22 May with an appointment of special officer.

The Union government had cited the financial crisis as one of the key reasons behind the move to merge the three civic bodies but a solution to the ongoing crisis has not yet been outlined.

According to corporation estimates sent to Central government last month, the salary and pension arrears worth ₹8,259 crore are pending with North MCD, ₹676 crore with SDMC and ₹2,339 crore with EDMC.