AAP leaders take up brooms to clean Delhi’s garbage, face ire of residents

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, June 13, 2015: A day after sanitation workers in east and north Delhi called off their strike, the Aam Aadmi Party leaders on Saturday wielded the brooms and took part in the cleanliness drive on the streets of the national capital.

However, residents of a colony here dismissed the AAP leaders` attempt as just a photo opportunity, reported a TV channel.

AAP MLA from Krishna Nagar, SK Bagga, was also barred by the residents of his constituency from taking part in the drive, said another TV channel.

This morning, Deputy Prime Minister Manish Sisodia was in his constituency Patparganj with other workers to clean the garbage that has filled the air in Delhi with a stench.

Other AAP leaders, including Ashutosh and Alka Lamba (in Chandni Chowk) and Sanjay Singh, were seen cleaning loads of litter and rubbish scattered all over the roads.

A news agency has, meanwhile, quoted Ashutosh as saying that it was to be pondered over why the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is considered to be so corrupt. A permanent solution needs to be found out for MCD workers, added Ashutosh.

Sanitation workers in east and north Delhi called off their strike yesterday after the Delhi government released their salary arrears even as political parties indulged in a blame game for the piles of waste lying on the streets that has caused concerns about a possible outbreak of diseases.

The strike ended on the day the Delhi High Court directed the city government to immediately release funds to the East Delhi Municipal Corporation for payment of salaries to its employees.

Earlier in the day, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi met sanitation workers on strike for the past 12 days to express his solidarity with them.

AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Dilip Pandey held a press conference in the afternoon and said the Arvind Kejriwal government had released the funds for payment of pending salaries of sanitary workers.

"We had released Rs 513 crore instead of Rs 493 crore to pay the salaries of North and East Municipal Corporation employees before the high court’s order came," said AAP leader Dilip Pandey.

The announcement to pay salary arrears to sanitation staff had been made by Kejriwal at a rally in Delhi on May 8.

Hours after the release of funds was announced, the Akhil Bhartiya Safai Mazdoor Sangh, to which sanitation workers are affiliated, said the strike was called off.

"We got to know that the Delhi government has released Rs 513 crore towards our salaries. So, we have decided to call off the strike. Sanitation workers will be back on work from tomorrow (Saturday)," Sangh president Krishnapal Parcha had told a news agency.

"Delhi will be cleaned in just three days after we resume work," he added.

Parcha said over 10,000 sanitation workers were on strike for the last 12 days over the issue of non-payment of their salaries.

The sanitation workers from east and north municipal corporations had complained that they had not been given salaries for the last two months.

The strike had badly impacted the system of garbage collection in Delhi with piles of household waste spilling on roads.

At places, the strewn garbage stretched to several metres with even vehicles getting stuck. Citizens expressed concern at the possibility of breakout of diseases.

There were also reports of workers deliberately spilling garbage on the roads to register their protest in Mayur Vihar and Patparganj areas.

The national capital, on an average produces 8,630 tonnes per day of municipal solid waste, according to Delhi’s Department of Environment.

 

Courtesy: Zeenews