Patna: Sanitation workers of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Friday held protest at its Maurya Lok headquarters, alleging that the state govt had failed to honour assurances given after their previous strike in Aug. They warned of resuming the agitation from Nov 3 if their demands remained unaddressed.The protest, organised by the PMC Employees’ Joint Coordination Committee, was part of a statewide demonstration by municipal employees. The Bihar Local Bodies Employees Federation and Local Bodies Employees Joint Struggle Front have called an indefinite strike from Nov 3.Committee president Chandraprakash Singh said urban development minister Nitish Mishra had given assurances on Aug 6, following which the eight-day strike, begun on July 30, was suspended. Spokesperson Jitendra Kumar said a committee headed by the urban development department secretary was formed to resolve the issues within a month, but four meetings in three months yielded no concrete outcome.The demands include regularisation of daily wagers, equal pay, direct salary payments, MACP and ACP benefits, timely wages, PF and ESI deposits, pending compassionate appointments and pension dues, wages for the previous strike period and withdrawal of action against protesters. Workers said they did not want to disrupt Chhath but might have to resume the agitation.
