All work, no pay for MCD contract workers

Even as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is busy sprucing up the city for Diwali, the civic agency is least bothered about the fate of more than 3,000 contractual workers.

Even as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is busy sprucing up the city for Diwali, the civic agency is least bothered about the fate of more than 3,000 contractual workers.

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The MCD’s troop of domestic breeding checkers (DBCs) have not received their salaries for the past two months.

These workers are employed by the civic agency to conduct door-to-door inspection in various colonies across the Capital to detect the breeding of dengue and other disease-causing mosquitoes.

Door-to-door survey has been instrumental in bringing down the numbers of dengue cases in the city. The fear of penalty helps people maintain cleanliness and keep their premises mosquito-free to a large extent.

The civic agency has 3, 200 DBCs working for them. These DBCs are hired on contractual basis every year. Each DBC is being paid a paltry sum of R225 per day.

However, the workers allege that even that is not being paid to them regularly.

“While the permanent employees of the MCD are getting bonus, we are not even getting our regular salary,” said Ashok Chaudhary, a DBC and general secretary of the Anti-Malaria Karamchari Sangh.

“We have worked even during holidays and this is what we are getting in return. A number

of workers of west zone are yet to get their salaries since August,” he added.

The civic agency admitted that the workers are yet to be paid. “There’s shortage of funds and we are trying to resolve the matter,” said a senior MCD official.