Continuing their protest on the third day demanding release of three months’ salaries and other dues, over 200 sanitation workers on Friday morning surrounded Delhi transport and rural development minister Gopal Rai’s constituency office in northeast Delhi’s Babarpur and littered the area with garbage.
As some sanitation workers protested outside Mr Rai’s Babarpur office, another group, under the banner of the United Front of MCD Employees, littered garbage outside Mr Rai’s official residence in Civil Lines. “We demand chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to pay our salary first and later settle scores with the municipal corporations,” said Swatantra Mazdoor Vikas Sanyukt Morcha president Sanjay Gehlot.
He also threatened that the protests will be intensified and the municipal workers will next hold a demonstration outside Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel’s residence in Vivek Vihar if their demands were not met. “We have not received our salaries for the past three months and the government is playing blame game. We will make sure that our plight reaches them even if it is in the form of garbage dumping,” added Mr Gehlot.
While the protests outside the transport minister’s residence were on, scores of municipal workers led demonstrations at various areas in east Delhi, west Delhi and south Delhi, causing traffic jams during morning peak hours, causing inconvenience to office-goers, other commuters and residents.
In North Delhi, the zonal offices of civic body at Karol Bagh, Civil Lines and Rohini were locked down by the striking employees and workers. The employees at headquarters of South Delhi Municipal Corporation and North Delhi Municipal Corporation at the Civic Centre also boycotted work.
Demanding regular salaries, payment of long-pending arrears, regularisation of contract-based workers, health cards and unification of three municipal corporations, the workers had launched the strike on January 27.
A major obstruction in traffic was reported from east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar area where the municipal employees dumped a pile of garbage on the main Laxmi Nagar-Mother Dairy traffic intersection and shouted slogans against the AAP government and accused chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and other top ministers of not releasing funds for their salaries.
The protesters also burnt and effigy of Mr Kejriwal and claimed that their protests will continue till the Delhi government releases their pending dues.
Similar protests were reported from different parts of the city. The striking workers had on Thursday dumped garbage outside the office and residence of deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. He had later accused the BJP leaders of the three municipal corporations of instigating the workers to throw garbage outside the ministers’ residences and offices.
