Delhi: Corporation work hit with staff’s way blocked

NEW DELHI: A large number of field workers, domestic breeding checkers and sanitation staffers in municipal corporations comes from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. In the wake of the farmers’ blockades at the city’s borders, they are finding it difficult to commute and the corporations have started facing problems in carrying out their work, besides losing daily toll revenues.
Several sanitation superintendents have reported that that some workers are facing problems in commuting, reporting late and asking for leave. A similar situation was observed in April when the border movement was restricted by the neighbouring NCR districts, fearing the spread of Covid-19 from Delhi. Unlike then, however, smaller border points are open this time.
The civic bodies draw 15-20% of their workforce from the rest of NCR, and if the blockades continue, field work will be impacted, many officials said. A senior official of South Delhi Municipal Corporation said more than 540 workers under him came from neighbouring states. “Many of them are coming several hours late and some have even reported that they can’t commute. We are hoping that things will not linger on, otherwise alternative arrangements will have to be made,” the official said.
Another official said that during the April restrictions, arrangements were made in several community centres for such employees’ stay so that disinfection drives and other anti-Covid operations didn’t get impacted. “But these community halls were not popular among employees. Later, we had to introduce special allowances for employees who could make their own arrangements and get reimbursed from the corporation,” another official said.
Both Tikri and Singhu borders fall under the jurisdiction of North Delhi Municipal Corporation. A senior official said some workers were indeed facing problems at the borders but there were also some habitual offenders. “We have no mechanism to check if a grievance is genuine. We are managing the situation,” the official added.