Centre taking 'coercive' steps against sanitation workers: Ajay Maken

Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken Monday denounced the use of force on the protesting sanitation workers here, saying the BJP-led central government is taking "coercive" steps instead of finding a solution to their strike.

Sanitation workers of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) who are on strike for the last three weeks staged a protest at the Jantar Mantar. Security personnel used "mild force" to disperse the crowd after it went out of control, police said.

A senior leader of the sanitation workers' union alleged that police resorted to "lathicharge", a charge denied by the force.

"Instead of finding a solution to the strike, the BJP-ruled central government and the municipal corporations have been indulging in coercive methods, which was clearly evident from the lathi-charge on the sanitation workers," Maken said in a statement.

Instead of paying wages and arrears of the sanitation workers, the EDMC suspended 71 of them. Adding insult to injury, they were "lathi-charged" by the Delhi Police at Sansad Marg, he alleged.

Maken also slammed the BJP and the AAP for indulging in a blame game rather than finding a solution to the strike that has to lead to a potential health threat to people living in East Delhi areas.

"Non-payment of the salary and arrears of the sanitation workers and the lathi-charge on them fully exposed the hollowness of the Modi government's highly-publicised Swachh Bharat Mission," he alleged.

The AAP government in Delhi is also "not kindly disposed of" towards the plight of the sanitation workers, he charged.