The Indian Express     06.08.2013 

PMC: Cross-voting counts in elections to senior deputy mayor, deputy mayor

Elected members of political parties resorted to cross-voting during elections to the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor of the Panchkula Municipal Corporation here on Monday. Cross-voting not only reduced the winning margin of the Congress-supported Independent candidate, S S Nanda, who got elected as senior deputy mayor, but also helped suspended BJP member Sunil Talwar get elected as deputy mayor.

While the INLD candidate for the office of senior deputy mayor, Satinder Singh, managed votes from the BJP and Congress, the Congress-supported Independent candidates voted for the suspended BJP candidate, Sunil Talwar.

The elections to these two top positions held under the supervision of Panchkula Mayor Upinder Ahluwalia clearly showed dissension within the Congress camp and also brought to the fore the bitterness between the INLD and Congress.

"Earlier when we had voted for the Congress-supported Independent candidate, Upinder Ahluwalia, to elect her as mayor, we were given an assurance that the deputy mayor will be from our party. But this promise has not been kept," said INLD city president Manoj Agarwal.

Though the INLD did not have the numbers, the party put up a candidate for the office of senior deputy mayor and managed to get the Congress votes as well. The Congress-supported Independent candidate, Sangat Singh Nanda, got 11 votes for the office of senior deputy mayor while as INLD candidate, Satinder Singh, got eight votes from the 19 votes that were cast. One of the Congress-supported candidates, Mamta Mittal, did not attend voting. The Congress earlier claimed strength of 14 corporators while the BJP and INLD had won three wards each. However, one of the corporators from ward no 7, Vinod Kumar, who was reportedly affiliated to the Congress, had joined the INLD recently.

Suspended BJP member Sunil Talwar managed to get 10 votes against the nine votes that were secured by the Congress-supported Independent candidate Surinder Singh. Besides Talwar, the BJP had only two elected members Ravi Kant Swami and C B Goel, who were also suspended along with Talwar for voting in favour of Congress candidate Upinder Ahluwalia for the office of the mayor. Talwar's name was proposed by Ravi Kant Swami and was seconded by INLD corporator Vinod Kumar. INLD city president Agarwal said that Vinod Kumar joined the INLD recently and his support to the BJP candidate came after the mayor did not fulfil her promise to elect a deputy mayor from the party.

District BJP chief, Panchkula, Vishal Seth, however, said his party had no role in the elections to the office of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, and since the members were suspended, the party did not issue any whip related to elections.

Dissension within the Congress as well as shifting of loyalties to a particular camp were also evident. After S S Nanda, supporter of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, lost the chance to the office of mayor earlier to Ahluwalia, also a CM loyalist, he managed to bag the support of the Congress members from the camp of Union Social Justice Minister Kumari Selja. Nanda's name was proposed by Selja loyalist Krishan Kumar Lamba and was seconded by another Selja supporter Bhawna Gupta. Lamba also seconded the candidature of Surinder Singh for the office of deputy mayor and his name was proposed by Congress-supported candidate Lily Bawa.

The Hindu               06.08.2013 

Upgraded status, better pay for sewage cleaners

The Delhi Cabinet on Monday decided to upgrade the status of workers engaged in de-silting and cleaning of sewer lines by changing the designation of these workers and granting them increased pay. The workers engaged in cleaning sewer lines manually will now be termed as semi-skilled workers instead of unskilled workers and will get the minimum wages of Rs. 8,528 per month instead of Rs. 7,722 per month. Those engaged in mechanical cleaning will be termed as skilled instead of unskilled workers and will be paid Rs. 9,386 per month instead of Rs. 7,722 per month.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who chaired the meeting, said the Cabinet decided to upgrade the status of workers under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, on the request of the Delhi Commission for Safai Karamcharis. She said her Government has given sympathetic consideration to the demand given the difficult condition these workers work in.

Sanitation workers in the Capital have for years expressed their displeasure with the way they are treated and have often complained that they have had to work without any protection gear such as gloves, boots and masks. They have also complained about being employed on contractual basis despite working for several decades. “We don’t even get our salaries on time,” said one worker. Several workers’ unions in the city have been pressing the authorities for salary hikes, regularisation of employment and medical facilities.