Delhi Municipal Mosquito Breeding Checkers Call off Hunger Strike due to COVID-19 Cases

The resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the national capital has once again affected the protests and demonstrations by workers with the employees of Delhi’s three municipal corporations deployed to check mosquito breeding calling off their hunger strike.

Demanding immediate regularisation of their posts, which was assured to the protesting unions in writing following their indefinite strike in 2017, the employees had given a call last month for a hunger strike beginning January 4. However, it was called off due to the rising number of COVID-19 infections with the employees deciding to wear black bands on their shoulders to register their protest.

“We called off the hunger strike because as the [COVID-19] cases increased, we thought of first ensuring the safety of all the employees,” Devanand Sharma, president, Anti-Malaria Ekta Karamchari Union (AMEKU), told Newsclick on Monday. The protest, continuing for many years, will go on, he added.

There are 3,500 domestic breeding checkers (DBCs) in the national capital employed on a contractual basis by the municipal corporations of North, South and East, ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The contractual employees have been given assurances for the past several years but their job status hasn’t changed, Sharma said ruing that they work for a “very less” salary without any social security.

The other major demands of the AMEKU, the Centre of Indian Trade Union-backed union spearheading the protest, are Rs 30,000 monthly salary for the employees, who had played a crucial role in the city to restrict the spread of the vector-borne diseases.

The role of the employees was also acknowledged by the authorities. In a letter dated January 3, the East MCD and North MCD had urged the employees to call off the strike action terming the role played by them in dealing with the high number of COVID-19 cases as “important”. The letter, seen by Newsclick, had also warned of departmental action against the employees, in case, they staged the strike.

Sharma rued that the authorities acknowledge “our role” but still “do not regularise our posts”. “We don’t enjoy striking work but what option do we have when nobody addresses our issues?” he asked. The DBC employees are performing their duty and are also trying to draw the attention of the general public to their issues, he said when asked about the employees wearing the black bands.

Newsclick had earlier reported that with the MCD polls scheduled to be held in the coming months, the demands of DBC employees will again be raised by the unions to pressure the ruling BJP.