CHANDIGARH:
Haryana chief minister
Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said consensus had been reached on some demands raised by the safai karamcharis (sanitation workers) of the civic bodies in the state. He expressed hope that they would call off their strike.
The CM was addressing a press meet at Chandigarh when he was asked to comment on the ongoing strike of the safai karamcharis. Earlier in the day, he had held a meeting with different employees’ unions.
Khattar said, “We have assured the unions that all their genuine issues would be sorted out within next eight days. As agreement has already been reached between the government and the
Safai Karamchari Unions on some demands, they have sought time till the evening to inform the state government about their decision”.
Later, interacting with the newspersons, Haryana urban local bodies’ minister Kavita Jain said the meeting with employee leaders was held under the chairmanship of CM Khattar and the Safai Karamchari Union, affiliated with
Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, had agreed to call off their strike.
The minister said the state government had decided to constitute a committee on ‘equal pay for equal work’ under the chairmanship of the chief secretary. The committee would submit its report before May 31, 2018.
She said it had been decided to enhance the ‘safai vishesh bhatta’ (special sanitation allowance) from Rs 300 to Rs 1,000. It was also decided that no new outsourcing contracts on supply of safai karamcharis or sewermen would be done in future by any urban local body and also the present outsourcing policy contracts would continue till the date of its expiry and thereupon, the outsourced manpower would be shifted to the municipal rolls.
From now onward, the PF and ESI would be directly deposited by the local bodies in the accounts of the individual employees and a vigilance enquiry be conducted on the non-description of PF and ESI in the accounts of various employees by the contractors concerned.
Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar(File Photo)