MC employees burn effigies, demand release of salary

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 17

The strike of employees of the Municipal Corporation (MC) over non-payment of salaries has entered the second week. Meanwhile, the protesters, led by the Sanjhi Sangharsh Committee, burnt effigies of Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora and MC Commissioner Gurlovleen Singh Sidhu outside MK Hotel in Ranjit Avenue today.

Vinod Kumar Bitta, general secretary of the committee, said, “We have been demonstrating for the past one week at the MC head office. No one came to hear our issues. Now, we have decided to demonstrate on city roads to make people aware of our problem.”

One of the protesters, seeking anonymity, said the residents of the city should be thankful to the safai karamcharis who are cleaning roads and chopping off the unwanted shrubs without receiving salaries for two months. “The official staff have boycotted the work but the field employees are working regularly so that residents don’t face any inconvenience in the rainy season,” he added.

The protesters said they hadn’t received salaries for two months. Delay in the disbursement of salaries has become a routine affair as the civic body faces financial crisis.