BSES contract staffers' strike called off

The strike called by a section of BSES contractual staffers that had led to outages across west and south Delhi has been withdrawn, though the forum has warned of a renewed agitation from August 21 if their demands are not met.
DC Kapil, the General Secretary of the Delhi Vidyut Board Employees Union, said Power Minister Satyendar Jain has assured them of looking into their demands, including that of regularisation at a meeting yesterday.
"We have deferred our strike for a month. The government has promised to look into our primary demands of regularisation and salary hike. A government committee will soon submit a report on revision of salaries of contractual employees," Kapil said.

AAP MLA Somnath Bharti, the "patron" of the union which is affiliated to the party's trade wing, was also present at the meeting. Bharti was supportive of the demands raised by the union, though he said the strike was "uncalled for".
BSES authorities had declared the strike to be "illegal" and one called by an "unrecognised" union.
"We had informed Delhi government about it. With active support from majority of our employees and the law enforcing authorities, we were fully geared up to meet any exigency," a BSES spokesperson had said.