Pay municipal staff on 1st of every month: Union

Ludhiana: Irked over the delay in payment of salary, employees staged a protest outside the MC office on Wednesday. They not only raised the difficulties of the sanitation staff, but also raised objection against the MC’s decision to hire private contractors for door to door garbage collection. The members of Sewerman Safai Karamchari Sangharsh Committee carried out a rally outside MC zone A office near Mata Rani chowk with their demands. Before the rally, they also paid tribute to former CM Parkash Singh Badal on his demise.
Union leaders Vijay Danav and Chaudhary Yashpal shared that poor people are involved in door to door garbage lifting and are earning their livelihood, but the MC is planning to hire private contractors for this task. “We will not let this happen. MC employees are not getting their salaries on time, as they are yet to be paid for March,” they said. While handing over a memorandum to joint commissioner Sonam Chaudhary, they demanded that salary should be paid on the 1st of every month, and announced to organise a mass protest on May 11.
On the other hand, officials claimed that it was quite essential to hire private contractors so that responsibility could be fixed. “The MC is lifting garbage from secondary collection points but door to door lifting is being done by the informal sector. The source segregation is not being implemented properly. It is due to this reason we are planning to take such steps,” said a source. “Moreover, when bio CNG plant will be installed, then first requirement is that segregated waste should reach the plant. In Indore too, similar steps were taken,” the source added.