NGT seeks budget allocation details of sanitation workers

It also said that salaries to sanitation employees should be paid on time

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday said salaries to sanitation employees should be paid on time as it sought a detailed report by Friday on the budget allocated for their salaries in the national capital.

A bench, headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, pulled up the Delhi government and the municipal corporations over the city's garbage mess and observed that " the public was suffering due to a tussle between government and Corporation".

"The salaries of employees should be paid on time without delay and default...Let everybody wake up now, enough is enough. Tomorrow all the officers should be present and file appropriate answers duly supported by records," the bench said.

The green panel also directed the Delhi government to place on record the order of Delhi High Court which asked the authorities to remove the garbage in the trans-Yamuna area.

Earlier the NGT had issued notices to Ministry of Urban Development, the Aam Aadmi Party government and the union of 'safai karamcharis' on the indefinite strike called by sanitation workers of East Delhi Municipal Corporation due to non-payment of salary.

Since 2015, east corporation sanitation workers have gone on strike five times over non-payment of salary. This time, it is over non-payment of their November and December salaries.

The NGT had earlier directed all municipal authorities to draw up "an integrated waste management plan for Delhi, identify landfill sites and improve the condition of existing sites," among other issues.