Safai karamcharis protesting at Jantar Mantar on Monday were lathi-charged as they attempted to march towards the Parliament.
5 cops injured
The police said a case of rioting has been filed against unknown persons. And five police personnel were injured in Monday’s incident. The sanitation workers of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation have been on strike for the last 27 days over the regularisation of contract workers and other employment benefits.
While East Delhi Mayor Bipin Bihari Singh at a press conference on Sunday claimed that the regularisation process had begun, Sanjay Gehlot, the president of the MCD Swachhata Karamchari Union, which is leading the strike, rejected the claim saying that the order had not been passed by the competent authority, adding that the strike would continue.
In a press release, the EDMC said it has regualrised six workers engaged since 1998, based on seniority. It also said that it had disengaged 26 workers for causing disruption to services and suspended 17 others.
Mr. Singh accused the union leader of misleading the public and working with the AAP and said that offer letters to karamcharis were being handed out.
“If we go to the Chief Minister, he says we are BJP workers and now the Mayor says we work for the AAP. We have held protests in front of different party leader’s houses. We have no connection with any party,” said Gehlot.
The East Corporation had issued an order to suspend all karamcharis who did not turn up to work on October 5. Following this, 71 workers were suspended on October 6 and another 11 were dismissed in Shahdara South on Monday. Mr. Gehlot termed the suspensions illegal and said that the union would take the civic body to the court over the matter.