Delhi: Municipal corporation employees go on indefinite strike over non-payment of salaries

Employees in different departments of the civic bodies have not been paid salaries for the last four or five months

Several employees of the three municipalities — north, east and south — of Delhi went on an indefinite strike from Thursday against non-payment of their pending salaries and pensions. The strike has been called under the aegis of the Confederation of MCD Employees Union — an umbrella body of civic employees unions.

Teachers employed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) raise slogans to protest the non payment of salaries outside EDMC headquarters, in New Delhi in November.(Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

The agitated employees also staged a protest at the Civil Lines zonal office of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and demanded the release of their pending salaries.

AP Khan, convenor, Confedration of MCD Employees Union, said that employees in different departments of the north civic body have not been paid salaries for the last four or five months, while the salaries of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) employees have been pending for the last three months. In South Delhi Municipal Corporation, employees’ pensions are not being cleared.

“Employees have been working without salary for four or five months and now they are unable to take care of their families. We have raised the issue with the authorities several times but to no avail. We are compelled to go on strike until our demands are met. We want all our pending salaries and pensions to be cleared and a permanent solution to this problem,” Khan said.

Employees who are participating in the strike include teachers, engineers, staff of the horticulture department, clerical staff, Domestic Breeding Checkers (DBC) workers, and fourth-class employees such as beldars and labourers.