The Times of India 12.01.2010
Strike called off after BMC chief’s assurance
MUMBAI: As many as 1.5 lakh BMC employees called off an unprecedented strike across all 24 civic wards on Monday after being assured of greater security cover for municipal staff.
The decision was made after representatives of the Municipal Engineers’ Association (MEA) met municipal commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya with their demands.
The employees had threatened to bring civic services at the ward office in Parel to a halt after Shiv Sena corporator Sanjay Agaldare had last week attacked Mahesh Pawar, assistant engineer from the water department.
The situation got out of hand as no action was taken against the corporator. Despite repeated assurances, the MEA had announced that the strike would be extended to all wards if no action was taken soon.
Prominent among MEA’s demand was action against the Sena corporator, including his arrest and subsequent sacking from the post of an elected representative. Kshatriya, however, while accepting the need for greater security cover and machinery at the ward level, said that rest of the proceedings against the corporator was a matter of following a systematic process.
“As an immediate measure, we are putting up alarm bells at all wards along with additional forces that are going to be deployed there,” he told MEA representatives.
According to officials, sirens could be sounded to alert officials in case a morcha is brought to the office.
“The state government is already moving towards making changes in the existing laws to make them more stringent. The revised laws along with other measures, alarm bells and greater deployment of forces, would act as a strong deterrent to any such incidents in the future,” said a senior civic official.
This is not the first time an official from the water department has been attacked by angry politicians. In November 2009, Sena activists led by Tukaram Kate, who contested the assembly polls on a Sena ticket, came to the civic headquarters and attacked officers of the hydraulic department.
