Ludhiana MC employees’ union protests delay in release of appointment letters

The employees’ union shut down the main gate of the Ludhiana MC office for over three hours and raised slogans against municipal authorities during the protest

Ten days after the Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) general House approved the resolution to regularise over 3,500 contractual Class-4 employees, members of the Sewermen/Safai Karamchari Sangharsh Committee staged a protest outside the civic body’s Zone-D office on Friday over alleged delay in providing appointment letters.

MC Safai Karamchari union members holding protest against MC authorities at Zone-D MC office in Ludhiana. (Harvinder Singh/HT)

The employees’ union shut down the main gate of the MC office for over three hours and raised slogans against municipal authorities. Visitors were allowed to enter the MC office through suvidha kendra. The committee also announced that they will gherao the MC commissioner’s residence on Monday.

Chairman of the committee, Vijay Danav, said employees should be given the appointment letters at the earliest as they have been waiting for a long time. “If the authorities further delay the process, we will announce a strike,” Danav said.

The protest was lifted after they submitted a memorandum with MC joint commissioner Kulpreet Singh.

Appointment letters to be distributed on Oct 18: Mayor

Meanwhile, mayor Balkar Sandhu said there is no need for protests as an event has already been scheduled on October 18 where local bodies minister Inderbir Singh Nijjar will hand over appointment letters to the employees.

Ever since the resolution was passed, members of various MC employees’ unions and political parties have been engaged in a credit war in an attempt to gain favour ahead of civic polls in the city.