Delhi civic employees refuse to call off strike

The striking municipal employees of Delhi on Wednesday refused to call off their strike even as the Delhi government announced a loan of Rs.551 crore to two municipal corporations for payment of their salaries.

The striking employees said the funds given by the government were not a permanent solution to the crisis.

"Our strike will continue. The amount announced by the Delhi government is like a drop in the ocean. We had demanded Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung to arrange Rs.5,000 crore either from Delhi or the central governments," Mazdoor Vikas Sanyukta Morcha president Sanjay Gehlot told IANS.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday announced Rs.551 crore loan for payment of salaries to striking workers.

"We are giving Rs.551 crore to the North and East municipal corporations as loan for payment of salaries of workers," Kejriwal said in Bengaluru, where he is undergoing treatment for his throat problem at a naturopathy centre.

United Front of MCD Employees president Rajesh Mishra too said the "strike will continue".

"Giving loan to the civic bodies to clear the salaries bill is not a solution. We want a permanent solution to the problem. The three corporations should be merged," Mishra told IANS.