Sanitation Workers Announce 'Chakka Jam', Threaten to Sit on Hunger Strike on Feb 27 if Demands Not Met

The sanitation workers staged a demonstration outside the MCD headquarters here on Wednesday demanding regularisation and payment of pending arrears and threatened to sit on a hunger strike on February 27 if their demands are not met.

The workers have announced to stage a “chakka jam” (strike) across Delhi and stop sanitation work in the national capital on February 27 stating that the corporation has not paid heed to their repeated requests to regularise the sanitisation workers.

“The AAP-led corporation has not fulfilled its promise to permanent the contractual ’safai karamcharis’ (sanitation workers). We have repeatedly requested the mayor (Shelly Oberoi) to act on this but no one hears to our pleas,” Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) All Unions Core Committee vice-president Mahinder Singh told PTI.

“If the municipality doesn’t fulfil our demand, we will sit on a hunger strike and stage a ’chakka jam’ across Delhi,” he added. Nearly 500 sanitation workers gathered at the gate of the civic centre to register their protest under the banner of the MCD All Unions Core Committee.

Some sanitation workers also removed their shirts amid the biting cold to register their protest against the administration. Amid police barricading, the sanitation workers also tried to halt the traffic on the road.

The protestors, including many persons with disabilities and elderly persons, sat on the road causing traffic jam near the MCD headquarters on Minto Road. Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Arvinder Singh Lovely extended support to the MCD sanitation workers and offered legal aid to the Core Committee if needed, a statement said.

Leader of Opposition Raja Iqbal Singh also criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in a statement for keeping the temporary workers waiting for regularisation. Besides regularisation and payment of arrears, the workers also demanded permanent jobs for dependents of the employees, who died during the COVID-19 pandemic. The union threatened to stage a bigger demonstration across the city if their demands are not met.