Over 100 sanitation workers protest against authorities, block MCG office

The union — mainly sanitation workers — which has been protesting outside the MCG’s main office every week since 2015, entered the office premises for the first time on Monday, said the officials

Over 100 workers of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) participated in Monday’s Bharat Bandh and took over its main office building in Sector 34 for two hours, preventing the entry of other staffers.

Municipal Corporation of Gurugram employees during the protest at the Sector 34 office, in Gurugram, on Monday. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

They were supporting the nationwide trade unions’ protest against government policies, and drawing attention to their long-standing demands — such as providing ₹50 lakh to the dependent of each sanitation worker who died of Covid-19, creating new job posts, increasing recruitment, and regularising employees.

Around 8.15am, workers and union members affiliated with the Haryana Nagar Palika Karamchari Sangh (HNPKS), an employee’s union, blocked all entry and exit points leading to different department offices of the MCG building till around 10am. The protesters also turned off the electricity supply to the office and sprinkled water on the staircase — from the third floor to the ground floor — so that staffers could not enter the building.

The union — mainly sanitation workers — which has been protesting outside the MCG’s main office every week since 2015, entered the office premises for the first time on Monday, said the MCG officials.

“The workers protested on Monday to draw the attention of the Haryana government as well as the MCG over our long-standing demands. They had agreed to accede to our demands on several occasions, but took no action on implementing those,” said Naresh Chakkarpur, chief organiser of the protest, HNPKS.

The union leaders said that the “Haryana government last year agreed to fulfil their demands such as providing ₹50 lakh to the dependent of each sanitation worker who lost their life due to Covid-19, creating new posts, increasing recruitment, and regularising them in the MCG instead of working on a contractual basis on two separate occasions. However, due to an inaction on behalf of the Haryana government and the MCG, a section of sanitation workers and union members working in the MCG’s zone 4 area held a protest against the authorities at the civic body’s Sector 34 office on Monday, Chakkarpur added.

“After we were apprised of the situation in the MCG’s Sector 34 office, senior union leaders asked the zone 4 sanitation workers and the union members to join us outside the MCG’s Civil Lines office, where we later took part in the protest march in Old Gurgaon, in support of the nationwide traders’ union protest,” said Chakkarpur.

The MCG’s office hours commence at 9am on weekdays, said the officials, adding that they stood outside the office for an hour, until the sanitation workers and union members vacated the area. A few MCG employees, who were successful in entering the office, were also asked to vacate the building by the protesters.

“At least three MCG officials suffered minor injuries while heading to our respective offices, after they slipped on the wet staircase... We resumed work as usual from 10am onwards, which continued uninterrupted for the rest of the day,” said a senior MCG official privy to the matter, requesting anonymity.

MCG commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja could not be contacted for a comment.