Sanitation workers exposed the Municipal Corporation officials before the Local Bodies Minister, highlighting the issue of unpaid salaries stretching back several months. It is worth noting that the Local Bodies Minister had arrived in Ludhiana on Friday to inspect the special sanitation drive currently underway across Punjab. When the Minister appealed to sanitation workers—encountered near DMC Hospital—to cooperate in keeping the city clean, they responded by handing him a list of their pending demands. A primary grievance among these was the non-payment of salaries for several months.
The sanitation workers expressed their resentment, noting that not only are ‘DC-rate’ and over-age employees not being regularized, but they are also facing severe financial hardship due to the non-receipt of even their meager salaries. Vijay Danav, Chairman of the Dalit Vikas Board, corroborated this, pointing out that the process of clearing the file for extending the tenure of DC-rate employees—moving from lower levels up to the Mayor—takes months, and the system for recording and forwarding their attendance is also flawed. Consequently, these employees struggle to afford household rations, rent, and children’s school fees. When the Minister sought a report on this matter, the Zonal Commissioner (Sekhon) and Health Officer (Malhotra) present at the scene failed to provide a satisfactory explanation; instead, they attempted to shift the blame for the salary delays onto the newly appointed DDO
