Mosquito checkers threaten strike

The workers allege that they have not received salary for past three months.

At least 1,350 domestic breeding checkers (DBC) of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) have threatened to go on strike from September 1 if their contractual agreement is not extended as was done by the east and north corporations.

The workers also claimed the SDMC had issued a circular to reduce their salaries to the previous scale after the high court quashed the Delhi government’s notification fixing higher minimum wages for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers. (Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

The contractual agreement of south Delhi DBC workers —assigned the task of checking breeding of mosquitoes — will get over on September 30. On August 13, the DBC workers wrote a letter to SDMC mayor Narendra Chawla and commissioner Puneet Goel to extend the contracts till March 31.

“The contract of 1,350 DBCs in SDMC will expire next month. In other two civic bodies, the contract will be in effect till March 31, 2020. We are against this biased attitude and asked SDMC to extend our contracts but nothing has been done. We can’t work under the fear of losing our job,” said Sushil Kumar Mishra, vice-president, Anti-Malaria Karamchari Sangh, a DBC union.

“We have given SDMC a deadline of August 30 to meet our demand else we will go on strike from September 1. And there is a dengue outbreak, it will be their responsibility,” said Ashok Chaudhary, a member of the association.

A senior SDMC official said that renewal of contract is a routine process. “It will be renewed as per set norms. The fears of the DBC workers are unjustified,” the official said.

The workers also claimed the SDMC had issued a circular to reduce their salaries to the previous scale after the high court quashed the Delhi government’s notification fixing higher minimum wages for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers. “This would lead to deduction of our salaries by at least Rs 4,000. Moreover, the three agencies have not distributed salaries for the past three months. How will we run our houses?” Mishra said.