North MCD staff to strike today to protest against non-payment of dues

Employees said they have not been paid salaries for several months, and the dearness allowance is pending since July.

At least 10,000 employees of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation including teachers, nurses and sanitation workers will go on a 24-hour strikeon Monday against delay in payment of salaries, dearness allowance and other dues, an umbrella organisation of the several staff unions of the civic body said on Sunday.

Indian Rupee money stacks and banknotes on the table , closed up shot (Shutterstock)

AP Khan, convener of the Confederation of Municipal Corporation of Delhi Employees Union (CMCDEU), said the protest will take place outside the north MCD headquarters, Civic Centre, in central Delhi from 10am on Monday.

“Since all rounds of talks between the union and the civic body over the payment of salaries and dues have failed to yield any result, we have no option but to protest to press our demands. Office-bearers of the north MCD have so far made only false promises, and are not willing to give us any assurance in writing. If the civic body remains indifferent to our demands, we will go on an indefinite strike,” he said.

Employees said they have not been paid salaries for several months, and the dearness allowance is pending since July.

Khan said the delay in disbursing the salaries and pensions has become a “routine affair”. “Since trifurcation of the municipal body appears to be the root cause of this financial distress, it should be unified; at least the finance wings of the three corporations should be brought together,” he said.

The three civic bodies have been in a financial mess ever since the MCD was trifurcated, and have struggled to implement new projects and pay salaries to their staff leading to strikes. In the build-up to the 2022 municipal elections, the BJP, which has been ruling the three civic bodies for the past 15 years, has come under severe attack from the opposition which has blamed the crisis on the mismanagement and rampant corruption in the civic bodies.

The North MCD maintains the largest area in the city (604.54 sq km out of 1484 sq km) among the three municipal bodies, and according to the civic body commissioner the liabilities of the corporation ( ₹8,800 crore) are more than its entire budget for the next financial year ( ₹5,808 crore).

The paramedical staff of Hindu Rao Hospital, the biggest civic bodies-run health facility in Delhi, have said that they will join the doctors in the strike. ““We have received salaries till October, but our demand for clearing outstanding dues with increased allowances is pending. We have so far compromised keeping in mind the problems that the patients face due to strike. But now, we will support the confederation’s call for protest on Monday and our members will work only if there is an emergency,” said Tajender Kumar, one of the leaders of the paramedical staff union of the hospital.

Category C and D workers at hospitals under the north MCD have also decided to go on a 24-hour strike on Monday. “Laboratory technicians, sweepers and other workers from Hindu Rao and Kasturba hospitals will take part in the 24-hour strike. Nurses from Girdhari Lal Hospital will also join us,” said Vinod Kumar Parcha, the president of the Hospital Employees’ Union.

Kuldeep Singh Khatri, president of Shikshak Nyay Manch, an association of MCD teachers, said over 3,000 teachers will demonstrate outside the BJP’s national office if their salaries are not paid by Monday.

“We had protested outside the BJP’s Delhi office over the non-payment of salaries on October 8, but none of the state BJP leaders approached us for the resolution of the issue. Our agitation has already entered the 14th day and nearly 7,000 teachers have stopped online classes. We have not received our salaries for last four months. Our dearness allowance too has not been paid since July,” he said.

North MCD’s standing committee chairman Jogi Ram Jain said the representatives of the CMCDEU were not ready to accept the assurances by the civic body. “Civic officials have also approached the Union ministry of finance to discuss a possible solution to the existing fund crisis. Unless we get the funds, we cannot disburse regular salaries to the civic employees,” he said.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the salary bills and other expenses of the civic bodies have gone up after the latest Pay Commission recommendation for 2021, but the Delhi government continues to release funds fixed in 2012-13 . “Due to this, three municipal corporations are facing an extreme financial crisis. If municipal employees go on strike, the people of Delhi will hold the Kejriwal government responsible,” he said.

Senior AAP councillor Mukesh Goyal accused the BJP for adapting a dilly-dallying approach in dealing with the problems of the employees. “Instead of generating resources and getting special package from the central government to overcome the financial distress, they always play blame-game. To hide their failures, the BJP councillors always try to create ruckus, to suspend the House,” he said.