New Delhi, Feb 22 (PTI) The AAP Tuesday dubbed as "poll gimmick" Delhi BJP's announcement that services of over 16,000 sanitation workers in the three civic bodies here will be regularised.

Addressing a press conference, Aam Aadmi Party leader Durgesh Pathak said the BJP which rules all the three municipal corporations in Delhi, has been making such an assurance since 2013 but never fulfilled it.

Also Read | Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Ram Rahim Singh Gets Z-Plus Security on His Release on Furlough From Haryana Jail.

The AAP's reaction came a day after Delhi unit of the BJP announced that services of over 16,346 sanitation workers would be regularised.

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, at a joint press conference with mayors of North, South and East Delhi municipal corporations on Monday, said the process of regularisation had already begun.

Also Read | Dhani App Identity Theft: Hundreds Fall Victim to PAN Identity Theft on IndiaBulls-Owned Fintech Platform.

"I was watching the BJP's press conference yesterday. He (Gupta) was opening a bundle of lies ahead of the (municipal) elections. Sanitation workers told me that the BJP had made such announcements in 2013, in 2016, and in 2018, 2019, 2020 – repeatedly every year, every six months, but never fulfilled them," the AAP leader charged.

Sanitation workers are continuously being "cheated and exploited" by the BJP-ruled municipal corporations in the national capital, he alleged.

"Just 15 days ago, the budget for the fiscal 2022-23 was proposed. Our councillors and leaders of opposition kept asking why the proposal for the regularisation of sanitation workers was not brought in, and why a section of the budget was not allotted to them. But they had no answers," he said.

The BJP's announcement with regard to regularisation of the services of the sanitation workers ahead of the civic polls is sign of its "desperation and apprehension" that it is going to suffer defeat in the upcoming civic polls, he said.

"This is yet another poll gimmick ahead of the (municipal) elections.. They (BJP) are afraid how they would face sanitation workers, and hence declared this empty promise yet again. They have simply issued a press release on paper without any actual work of creating posts or allocating the budget," he charged.

The BJP had promised to pay Rs 10 Lakh as compensation to sanitation workers who died of Covid, but did not pay it "to even one person," he added.

"I want to tell Adesh Gupta, your time is over now. The barbaric rule of corruption and bigotry is coming to an end. The Aam Aadmi Party and the people of Delhi have united to make sure that your tyranny ends. We will ensure that not only are you kicked out of power but that all your bonds are forfeited in each ward and each booth," the AAP leader said, asserting his party's victory in the upcoming civic polls.

Gupta had said on Monday that all three corporations have decided to regularise 16,346 sanitation workers and they will be handed over appointment letters at a function "in the coming days."

"So far, the North corporation has regularised 975 sanitation workers while another 6,646 are to be regularised. The South corporation has regularised 400 sanitation workers and that of another 1,489 workers is in the process. In the East corporation, 5,136 workers have been regularised and another 1,700 will be regularised soon," he had said at a press conference.

The sanitation workers in the three municipal corporations ruled by the BJP have been demanding regularisation of their services since long.

(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)