Day 2: Patiala MC staff protest on, no work

Patiala, March 7

Work at the Municipal Corporation remained suspended for the second consecutive day as employees protested over the alleged misbehaviour by one of the joint commissioners.

Class IV workers and others raised slogans outside the joint commissioner’s office.

Matter resolved after meeting

The matter revolved around allegations of misbehaviour by one of the joint commissioners. There was a miscommunication. The workers had raised a number of demands. The MC office is looking into the demands of the employees. The matter was resolved after a meeting held on Tuesday evening. Aaditya Uppal, MC Commissioner

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Employees, including Class IV workers, clerks and others, claimed that one of the joint commissioners at the MC office misbehaved with them during a meeting on Friday. An employee said, “The joint commissioner misbehaved with us during the meeting. This was while we raised demands for release of long pending funds, reimplementation of the old pension scheme and others.”

“None of the employees work at the office throughout the day today. We also held a protest outside the corporation office,” another employee said.

Sunil Kumar Bidlan, president of the Sanjhi Sangharsh committee, said they wanted the joint commissioner to apologise to the workers. “The protest will continue until the joint commissioner issues an apology,” he said.

Employees said they will not be protesting on Wednesday, but will resume the protest on Thursday.

Corporation Commissioner Aaditya Uppal said, “The matter revolved around allegations of misbehaviour by one of the joint commissioners. There was a miscommunication. The workers had raised a number of demands. The MC office is looking into the demands of the employees. The matter was resolved after a meeting held on Tuesday evening.”

Meanwhile, a visitor to the MC office said, “It has been four days that the work at the corporation office has been suspended. The employees have been staging a protest and putting their work on halt since Monday. No work will be carried out on Wednesday, as it is a holiday due to Holi. The protest has become a major inconvenience for the visitors here.”