MCD engineers to hold protest; suggest unification of MCD

Starting tomorrow, a group of engineers from the three BJP-led municipal corporations will carry out a week-long protest to press for the payment of salaries due to engineers of NDMC and EDMC, who have also suggested unification of the three civic bodies to end the financial crisis faced by the MCD.
Claiming that the engineers of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) have "not been paid salaries for the past 3-4 months", general secretary, Forum of MCD Engineers, AP Khan today said, "during the week-long protest, the engineers under all the three municipal corporations will wear black arm-bands as a mark of protest.

If our demands are not met, harsher steps like demonstrations and strike would be considered by the Forum, he said.
The erstwhile unified MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) was trifurcated in 2012 into - NDMC, EDMC and SDMC, and has been a contentious issue ever since, with demands for its reunification coming from few quarters.
Khan also said that unification of the three municipal corporations including the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) could end the nagging financial crisis.
In a letter written to the commissioners of all the three municipal corporations, the Forum has demanded their (civic bodies) unification into a Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Khan said.

"The decision of trifurcation was taken hurriedly due to political reasons without involving the main stakeholders employees and without considering the financial implications," he said.
"In the three years it has become evident that EDMC and NDMC so carved from erstwhile MCD can not independently function without SDMC which is major revenue generator," he said.
The decision of trifurcation has hit hardest the employees whose salaries are delayed due to financial crisis. The obligatory functions of the corporations like sanitation and maintenance of civic infrastructure have also been hindered due to lack of resources, Khan added.