Meerut: Sanitation Worker Suffers Heart Attack after Receiving Termination Notice

Lucknow: A female sanitation worker, who had been handed a termination letter by the Meerut Municipal Corporation (MMC), fell unconscious after suffering from a cardiac arrest early on Tuesday morning at her rented accommodation.

Thirty-five-year-old Nisha had been employed as an outsourced sanitary worker with the MMC for the past five years and was staying in Morna Village in Sector 35, Noida. The sole bread-winner of her family, she is in a critical condition and was admitted to EVES Hospital in Meerut. Aside from Nisha, twelve other women workers were also served termination letters.

“On Monday, she received a letter from her contractor informing her that her services were being terminated with effect from December 21. Nisha was very upset. She called up her husband and said she didn’t know how she would raise her children,” Sumitra, one of the agitating workers, adding that she had discussed the situation with her last Wednesday.

Nisha’s family alleged that she lost her job because she participated in the protests for the workers’ wages. They further claimed that after she fell unconscious, her house was surrounded by policemen, who did not allow anyone in.

According an agitating worker, on December 18, the city commissioner Manish Bansal issued an order to terminate Nisha's services, and that of 12 women sanitary workers, after which her health deteriorated.

Close 300-odd sanitation workers went on a strike on Tuesday, disrupting sanitation services in the city and demanding that the termination notices be rolled back. At around 6 am, the Meerut police first removed a few protesters from the protest site who were outside the office of the Meerut Municipal Corporation. However, agitating workers were not ready to vacate the protest site. Chanting slogans against the authorities, the workers also demanded equal pay for same work.

They said that they have been demanding minimum wages fixed by the government for contractual employees for the past two years. They said that contractual workers were being paid Rs 6,250 per month while regular employees doing the same work were getting up to Rs 25,000.

“We have been demanding minimum wages fixed by the government for contractual employees for the past two years. However, contractual workers are being paid Rs6,250 per month only. They are not allowed to eat while at work. If they protest, the contractor threatens to sack them. They were also threatened on Tuesday,” said a worker, who wish to remain anonymous.

“We have to face harassment on a daily basis. The administration does not give us fair treatment. Most of us are uneducated and want to educate our children so that they do not have to go through this,” said Sumitra.