Regularise us, hire more staffers: Safai workers at protest in Gurgaon

GURGAON: Sanitation workers on Tuesday held a protest outside the MCG office, demanding regularisation of existing employees and hiring more workers as per the city’s growing requirement. Since February 24, the sanitation workers have been staging protests at different sites across the city.
“Our protest entered its fifth day on Tuesday. If our demands are not met, we will hold marches across the city, go on hunger strike and no sanitation worker will carry out their duties. The officials and residents should understand our plight, we also have families to feed,” said Naresh Malkat, state secretary of Nagar Palika Karamchari Sangh.
The protesters said that the state government had assured them after the 11-day strike in October that new recruitments will be made against the vacant sanctioned posts.
However, the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) department in a letter issued on February 8 stated that Gurgaon has 3,137 sanctioned posts and all of them are filled. Hence, no recruitment will take place. The workers said that there is a requirement of around 6,250 sanitation workers in the city as against the sanctioned posts of 3,137. They want recruitment of sanitation workers on the basis of the existing population, which can be done after a fresh assessment.
While regularisation remains the primary demand of the protesting workers, the other demands include disbursal of salaries on the first of every month and safety gear for all sanitation workers.