Staff members from the offices of Mayor, standing committee, Leader of House and Opposition, different Commissioners, committee heads, and press and information departments have now joined the ongoing protest against the salary delay by the staff of the North Corporation at the Civic Centre.
Corporation employees across the board, including engineers and municipal administration staff, have been staging protests over the issue at the civic body’s headquarter for the past six days. On Wednesday, several employees staged sit-ins inside and outside the Dr SPM Civic Centre.
While protests by teachers, medical staff and sanitation workers, who also have active unions, have been common since the trifurcation of corporations in 2012, it has been four years since the administration staff took part in such protests.
Assistant section officer Mukesh Sharma, who is the North MCD Mayor’s PA, claimed that he drew his last salary in May and said he joined the ongoing protest as he is finding it difficult to even pay for his daily commute to office.
Anil Khatri, a staff at the factory licensing department, said, “My child has been pulled up four times by the school administration and was not allowed to attend online classes as I have not paid the fee.”
An official working in the Press and Information wing of the North MCD said that employees are demotivated. “Some staff in the department are finding it difficult to recharge their mobiles,” he said.
The ruling BJP in the MCDs and the AAP at the helm of affairs in the state have been engaged in a blame game, with the former claiming that the Delhi government has not released funds and the latter accusing the civic bodies of corruption.
AP Khan, general secretary of the Forum of MCD engineers, said that the staff will not relent unless a permanent solution is found.