Noida: Contract workers call off protest after job assurance

The contractual workers are mostly hired by private agencies

A group of contractual workers staged a protest outside the Noida authority’s Sector 39 office demanding permanent jobs. Some angry workers even locked the doors of the authority’s office for a brief period, disrupting official work for about half-an-hour. However, they called off the protest after senior officials assured them of looking into their demands.

Contractual workers with the sanitation department hold protest outside the authority’s Secto 39 office, demanding permanent jobs. (Salman Ali/HT PHOTO)

Around 1,000 contractual workers, employed as peons, security guards and supervisors in departments such as water and sewer, as well as electrical and horticulture wings of the authority, took part in the protest.

They are mostly hired by private agencies and render different kinds of services to the authority.

“I have been working 20 years for a salary of ₹16,000. It’s time the UP government provided us with permanent jobs. We are counting on the Noida authority to assure us permanent jobs, failing which, we will resort to protests again,” Kamal Singh, a contractual employee working as a peon, said.

However, top authority officials said that they cannot assure them permanent jobs as they had been hired by private contractors. The private contractors charge 2.5% commission on the salary of these employees.

“These workers are not our direct employees. They are hired by a third party (read: contractual workers.) How can we assure them permanent jobs? The authority has written several times to the UP government telling them about the demands of these workers,” Raghunandan Singh Yadav, senior project engineer, Noida authority, said.

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Sanitation employees, who number around 4,200 and have been serving the authority for long, have also pitched for permanent jobs. They have also been holding protests outside the Noida authority’s Sector 6 office demanding permanent jobs.

“We have given 18-20 years of service to the Noida authority and it’s only fair for us to seek a semblance of security. The state government and the Noida authority should help us,” Ravi Kumar, another contractual worker, said.