Fired Workers Announce Indefinite Dharna

Over four weeks after being fired and given the reassurance of re-employment in other departments, 18 water-supply workers of the Institute remain unemployed. They are now staging an indefinite dharna in front of the IWD (Institute Works Department) until their demand to be re-employed with minimum wages is met.

What happened?

As Vox had reported on 1 August 2022,  18 workers from the water supply and sewage department of the Institute were fired without prior notice, owing to a change in the contractor. The pumps that 49 workers operated are now operated by just 31. Following this event, over one hundred workers had gathered outside the IWD on 31 July, demanding their re-employment. The Senior Engineer at IWD had then, informed them that the Deputy Director had assured employment for all of them in some other department of the Institute. Four weeks have passed since, and the workers have approached the office multiple times-but there appears to be no sign of relief. Many have taken loans to sustain themselves through these four weeks, and others have had to empty their savings.

What are their demands?

The workers have demanded written answers from authorities on questions like:

• On what grounds were they fired? 

• On what basis were the retained workers selected?

They further mention the case of sump well no. 7 located near the airstrip. One of the fired workers (name retracted) had been operating the sump well for the past 22 years. Post his firing, no new worker is ready to operate this sump well at night, owing to the constant danger of snakes and other wild animals. The workers have raised concerns about the consequences of improper functioning of that sump well on the sewer line. 

They also allege favouritism and nepotism in the selection process of the retained workers. Many feel better connections with contractors helped some workers retain their jobs.

Later at night the workers were not allowed to stage their dharna and were subsequently removed by SIS guards.  

Institute’s view

Four weeks after the verbal assurance of re-employment, these promises from the IWD Senior Engineer seem empty. When we visited the Minimum Wages Office, we were told that the workers will soon be ‘adjusted’ in other departments as new buildings are coming up on the campus. Moreover, they told us that the Institute has directed them not to hire any new workers in any department, instead adjusting the current workers first. 

Worker’s concerns

Workers across departments are concerned that they may as well be fired soon, thanks to a wave of new tenders and increased mechanization of processes. In particular, waste disposal workers expressed concerns about their new tender which reduces the strength of workers to 10, and are expecting a similar incident in their department.