11th day of Delhi civic stir; employees burn PM, CM effigies

The strike by municipal workers continued for the 11th day on Saturday as employees of Delhi's civic bodies burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over non-payment of salaries.

The protestors, in north Delhi's Burari area, said the city and central governments were not taking their demands seriously.

Hundreds of employees of the municipal corporations staged a noisy demonstration and dumped garbage at various place,s including the camp office of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in Khichripur and Shyam Lal College in Burari.

The protestors staged a march and also burnt an effigy of Transport Minister Gopal Rai near his office at Babarpur in east Delhi.

"We will continue to dump garbage on the streets of Delhi till our demands are met," Sanjay Gehlot, president of the Mazdoor Vikas Sanyukta Morcha, told IANS.

Gahlot said workers will visit Delhi High Court on Monday and apprise it of the whole issue.

United Front of MCD Employees president Rajesh Mishra said a section of doctors and engineers called off their strike but it will not affect their ongoing protest. "The strike is on," he maintained.

"We will not call off our strike till our demands of reaching a permanent solution to the crisis and merger of municipal corporations are considered," he added.

Employees of Delhi's civic bodies have been protesting over the non-payment of salaries for the past few months, and directing their ire at both the Delhi and central governments for the last 11 days.

Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung on Friday announced a loan of Rs.300 crore to two municipal corporations for payment of salaries to striking workers, but they refused to heed to his appeal to return to work.

Earlier this week, the Kejriwal government had also announced Rs.551 crore to the North and East Delhi Municipal Corporations for paying salaries. - IANS