North MCD staff withdraw stir after salary assurances

A meeting was held on Monday between the civic body officials and members of various employees’ unions following which the agitation was called off.

North Delhi Municipal Corporation employees withdrew their agitation against non-payment of salaries on Monday within hours after civic body officials assured them to clear their dues within a given time frame.

The three municipal corporations are facing a crippling financial crunch with all of them running huge budgetary deficits, and struggling to pay salaries to their employees. (HT File)

At least 10,000 employees that included doctors, paramedical staff, nurses, teachers and sanitation workers announced a 24-hour strike on Monday against non-payment of salaries and dearness allowance for several months even as they alleged that the civic body has failed to live up to previous assurances.

The teachers, however, on Monday said they will continue their boycott of online classes until they get their salaries.

A meeting was held on Monday between the civic body officials and members of various employees’ unions following which the agitation was called off, North MCD mayor Raja Iqbal Singh said. “We had a positive meeting with confederation of employees’ unions today. We have accepted most of their demands. As their main demand was related to notification of enhanced dearness allowances (DA), the North MCD has already issued a circular regarding that,” he said.

The three municipal corporations are facing a crippling financial crunch with all of them running huge budgetary deficits, and struggling to pay salaries to their employees. The crisis has come at a time when the national capital is going to face civic polls in three months. Though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has governed the corporations for three straight terms, has claimed that it was being devoid of funds by the Delhi government, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — which is in power in the state — has maintained it has cleared all dues under all heads, and in fact has given extra to help the corporations pay salaries to their employees.

The north MCD has a deficit of over ₹8,000 crore while its total budget for the next financial year is around ₹5,500 crore, according to the budget documents.

Jogi Ram Jain, chairman of the North MCD’s standing committee, said the salaries of teachers will be released within a week, and that of the group-D employees, including the safai karmacharis, will be released within two weeks. “The other demands of the employees have also been taken into consideration by the corporation and efforts are being made to resolve the pending issues at the earliest,” he said.

AP Khan, the convener of the Confederation of Municipal Corporation of Delhi Employees Union (CMCDEU), who attended the meeting with the corporation officials, said they have withdrawn the agitation considering the “positive approach” of the civic body administration. “Since municipal authorities have asked for three weeks’ time, to redress all our grievances, all unions of the confederation have unanimously accepted their proposal. If they do not fulfil their promises within the stipulated time, we’ll decide the further course of protest,” he said.

The AAP decried the BJP-ruled North MCD’s assurances, and added that the civic body was fooling the employees.