New Delhi, Oct 15 (PTI) Scores of agitating daily-wage and other irregular sanitation workers of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Saturday called off their strike after getting assurances from civic authorities that their demands of regularisation will be met, officials said.

A former mayor of the erstwhile North Delhi Municipal Corporation said these workers had been agitating for the past two days, seeking regularisation, among other issues.

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The MCD in a statement on Saturday said there has been a demand of regularisation of daily wage safai karmacharis (DWSKs) who were engaged a long time ago.

The move comes ahead of the anticipated civic polls here which is likely to be held at the fag end of 2022 or early next year.

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Municipal Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti, ex-mayor Jai Prakash, along with other senior social workers had been "assiduously working on the matter and had held marathon meetings for two consecutive days -- October 14-15 -- with representatives of the trade union to avert any difficulty for citizens of Delhi that could be caused due to the strike, while being always mindful to redress the grievances of Swachhta Sainiks".

As MCD has taken steps for them, All Karamchari Union Core Committee, led by its president Sant Lal Chawariya, called off the strike of swachchta sainiks, it said.

"In the process, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has decided to regularise the substitute or daily wager safai karamcharis of year 1998 and 2000 as well as the substitute or daily wager safai karamcharis engaged on compassionate grounds since April 1, 2003," the civic body said.

Besides, all zonal deputy commissioners have also been asked to "process files for regularisation of left out cases from year April 1, 1994 to March 3, 1998," the statement said.

Prakash, when asked how many sanitation workers are set to benefit out of these steps, claimed that "about 10,000 such workers will be benefited in the next few months".

"About 7,500 workers will stand to benefit in the 1998-2000 bracket," he claimed.

Today, offer letters for regularization were distributed to 12 daily wager swachchta sainiks in the presence of Jai Prakash, All Karamchari Union Core Committee president, Engineer-in-Chief P C Meena and other municipal officials, the statement read.

Also, the MCD had ordered all zonal deputy commissioners on October 14 to "prepare files for regularisation of swachchta sainiks engaged on compassionate grounds from April 1, 2003 onwards. The files complete in all respect on year-wise basis, starting from April 1, 2003 are to be submitted to DEMS (HQ) on an urgent basis," the statement said.

Also, regularisation of substitute or daily wage safai karamcharis of year 1998 and 2000, payment of bonus to all group D employees, and "revocation of condition of FR-17" has been agreed to, the statement said.

Prakash said "FR-17 or fundamental rights- 17 clause" in employment provisions was still extant in the two zones in erstwhile East Delhi Municipal Corporation, when the three corporations were merged to a unified civic body -- MCD -- in May 2022, adding in rest of 10 zones, the clause had been removed earlier.

According to the FR-17 clause, a staff will get the benefits of regular posts from the day of regularisation in the civic body, and no arrears, he said.

But, if FR-17 is removed, the staff will get arrears too, Prakash said.

"The MCD has always kept welfare of swachchta sainiks as a top priority, and it is proud of its swachchta sainiks. It would leave no stone unturned for their well-being," the statement said.

"During life-threatening waves of COVID-19 pandemic, swachchta sainiks worked day in and day out without caring for their own lives. In keeping with this spirit and belief, the MCD has already regularised 187 swachchta sainiks in the recent months. It has established a dedicated OPD in its 10 hospitals for medical treatment of swachchta sainiks and many closed 'dhalaos' are being converted as restrooms or shelters for swachchta sainiks," it said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)