MCD strike cloud on Covid vaccination drive in Delhi

The vaccination programme will start in the city from January 16, with municipal employees — such as primary health workers, nursing staff and teachers — likely to be roped-in for the programme.

As Delhi moves towards commencing a mega vaccination drive in its battle against Covid, an ongoing strike by civic body employees to demand outstanding wages is likely to throw a spanner in the works.

According to details, nearly 3,500 employees of the three municipalities are likely to be roped-in during the massive vaccination programme, which will be conducted in different phases. (Representative Image) (AFP Photo)

The vaccination programme will start in the city from January 16, with municipal employees — such as primary health workers, nursing staff and teachers — likely to be roped-in for the programme.

Nurses, paramedic staff, ward boys, primary teachers along with the employees of other departments in civic bodies, majorly from the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, have been on strike since January 7 against non-payment of pending salaries for the last 3-5 months.

The agitating employees, especially those from health and education departments of the civic bodies, have said they will “not cooperate” in the vaccination drive until their salaries are cleared.

AP Khan, convener Confederation of MCD Employees Union, said that nurses, paramedic staff, sanitation staff and teachers will be engaged in the vaccination process from the three civic bodies, but it has been decided that there will be “complete non-cooperation”.

“We have communicated to the concerned heads of the health and education departments of the civic bodies regarding our non-cooperation in the vaccination drive. It is a matter of our survival and we cannot keep working without salaries for eternity. It has been over three months since nurses and paramedic staff in north corporation received their salaries. The teachers have not been paid since July 2020,” Khan said.

According to details, nearly 3,500 employees of the three municipalities are likely to be roped-in during the massive vaccination programme, which will be conducted in different phases.

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation has 64 vaccination centres including at its three hospital — Hindu Rao, Kasturba and Girdhar Lal. Nearly 1,000 employees of north corporation were imparted training for vaccination programme. Similarly, the number of vaccination centres in South Delhi Municipal Corporation is 58 and nearly 800 workers have been trained for the drive. Officials of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) said that they have made 32 centres for vaccination programme and have imparted training to over 250 employees.

Officials in the state health department said that once the vaccination drive begins in full swing with 1,000 (vaccination) centres, the government has estimated it would need a total 3,500 trained personnel to run these booths.

“Of the 3,500 personnel, around 1,750 will be workers from the municipal corporations (MCDs). These personnel will run vaccination booths and include doctors, nurses, paramedic staff and even teachers,” a senior official said.

Government officials said the strike by MCD employees will not immediately impact the drive. “But, if the stalemate doesn’t end by the end of this month, we may face some serious manpower crunch once the main vaccination programme is rolled out,” a second senior official said.

“The first phase is starting with just 89 centres in Delhi. So, the strike will not have much of an impact.None of the 89 centres are in any MCD facility. We have calculated the manpower requirement and found that only around 50-60 MCD workers will be needed in the first phase,” the official said.

Civic authorities said that they are reaching out to agitating employees and have appealed them to “not create hinderance” . They say that if the deadlock does not end, then action — such as invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) — may be taken.

Jai Prakash, mayor north corporation, said that vaccination programme is a national campaign and employees would have to participate in the drive.

“I have appealed all the employees, whose duty has been assigned for the vaccination programme, to return to work . Issue of salaries and vaccination drive should not mix and we are making efforts to release pending salaries as soon as possible,” he said.

Responding to this, convenor of the Confederation, Khan, said that agitating employees are “ready to face any action”.

Nirmal Jain, mayor EDMC, said, “There is no significant strike in the EDMC so the chances of impact on vaccination drive is bleak. We have made all preparations and are ready to start the mega campaign.”