In a bid to avert a major crisis, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday announced that the government had approved an advance sum of Rs 119 crore to East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) after its employees went on strike for non-payment of salaries.
Alleging the EDMC was wasting the money in corruption, he urged the corporation to "strictly" use the amount to pay the pending salaries of its employees.
He added that the Delhi government provided almost double the amount under the non-planned head to the East MCD for financial year 2015-16 in comparison to previous years.
More than 25,000 municipal employees of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation went on a strike on Thursday over non-payment of salaries for last two months, bringing the services to a standstill.
Sisodia said the MCD had committed a contempt of court by disobeying the Delhi High Court order that salaries to all its employees, including sanitation workers, should be paid by 7th of every month.
He added that it was "criminal negligence" on the part of East MCD not to pay the salaries of its employees for two months and causing inconvenience to the residents by not doing its mandatory duty of maintaining cleanliness.
This is the third continuous year, when the municipal workers have gone on a strike due to non-payment of salaries.
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