Section of municipal staff continues strike for fourth day

New Delhi: Around 3,000 domestic breeding checkers (DBCs) employed with Delhi’s three municipal corporations, who go door-to-door for remediating mosquito larvae growth, continued their strike for the fourth consecutive day Thursday.

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The contractual workers are demanding that they be regularised and provided all benefits that permanent employees enjoy such as gazetted holidays, provident fund, bonus, insurance and medical benefits.

However, the poor financial condition of the three corporations — north, south and east — has made it difficult for them to agree to their demands and disburse funds worth crores of rupees.

“Our efficacy in controlling the spread of diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya has been proved time and again. We were first hired on a contract basis after the 1996 dengue epidemic in Delhi which affected 10,252 people and caused an unprecedented 423 deaths. However, in spite of repeated requests, our posts have not been made permanent,” Devanand Sharma of the Anti-Malaria Ekta Karamchari Union (AMEKU), said.

“Some of us joined as contractual workers and retired as such, going through the hands of various political parties and leaders who promised to make us permanent through the past three decades. We want a solution,” said Madanpal, a member of the union.

A senior North Delhi Municipal Corporation official, who requested not to be named, said, “We have already started the process of regularising a few of them and the rest of them will also be made permanent in due course of time.”