Noida: Contractual workers call off their strike

NOIDA: Contractual workers , mostly safai karamcharis , who had gone on strike on Monday over pending demands, called off their stir on Tuesday evening after a meeting with Noida authority officials.


Noida Authority OSD Avinash Tripathi told TOI that while the Seventh Pay Commission scale cannot apply to these workers, the CEO decided to form a committee under the finance controller to look into the salary benefits that can be provided as per rules.

Regarding the demand for housing, the matter will be discussed at the next board meeting, he added.

Those who were expelled over non-performance of duties can approach the CEO to present their case and a final decision on their reinstatement will be taken on merit, said Tripathi. A letter has been issued to the workers’ contractor directing that they be issued ID cards and pay slips.

Devendra Kumar, president of the contractual workers’ association , however, said they will report for work from Wednesday but will again go on strike after 15 days if the demands are not met. He also said that apart from a pay hike, they want the reinstatement of 35 workers. The authority had said that 22 workers had been removed.

Earlier in the day, some sectors reported erratic water supply with very low pressure. “Water supply in the morning was two hours late from the Sector 20 pump house as contractual employees did not turn up,” said Suresh Tiwari, a resident of Sector 20. “No one came to work. The situation was the same across all sectors. No cleaning was done,” said Ashok Kumar, health supervisor, Sector 20. Complaints of low water pressure were reported from sectors 11, 12, 19, 22, 33 and 34.

The strike disrupted cleaning as well. Puneet Shukla, a resident of Sector 12 that has about 28,000 registered voters, said no cleanliness was done. “The situation of water was even worse. It was supplied for only half an hour in the morning,” he said.