Domestic workers stage protest at Delhi CM's residence

Hundreds of domestic workers staged a demonstration at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence here on Friday.

The workers were members of National Union of Informal Workers (NUIW).

Organising secretary of NUIW, Mohammad Tasnim Arif, said the workers wanted to hand over a memorandum of their demands to the chief minister but due to reasons unknown he refused to meet them.

He (Kejriwal) did not attend to their plight, Arif said.

After the chief minister refused to meet them, the workers staged a protest outside his residence and shouted slogans against him.

"We wondered why the CM refused to meet us even though he poses to be the CM of the common people. We handed over the memorandum to the officials present there," said an agitator Maya Devi.

Arif said they worked for the informal workers' sector by making them aware about their rights so the government should also play its part.

The protestors demanded that violation of minimum wages and harassment should be stopped with immediate effect.

"There should be fixed holidays for us as we work for all 30 days in a month. We should be given the benefit of maternity leave. We should also be covered with health, life and disability insurance," demanded the domestic workers.

The domestic workers also threatened to hold a massive agitation if their demands were not met.

"Government should understand our problems. If the government does not pay heed to our demands we will stage a protest on larger scale to highlight our plight," said worker Baby Rana.