Get rid of 'missing' sanitation workers, south Mayor tells officials

In order to review the functioning of the Department of Environment Management Service (DEMS) and the sanitation situation under the jurisdiction of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), Mayor Kamaljeet Sehrawat held a meeting with various senior civic body officials on Sunday.

The meeting was attended by Commissioner Dr Puneet Kumar Goel and all other zonal Deputy Commissioners. The major point of the discussion was the unauthorised absence of sanitation workers. It was pointed out to the Mayor that many workers from different zones neither reported for their duties after the expiry of the sanctioned leave nor gave any information about their whereabouts.

Recently, the SDMC had formed a task force committee to review various sanitation-related works. Within a few days, however, a large number of sanitation workers from various zones went on a leave without any prior notice.

As per the SDMC reports, nearly 400 workers have not returned to their jobs and their absence is affecting the overall work of maintaining parks, lanes, roads, and other common places.

The Mayor then directed the department concerned to start the process to fire these workers at the earliest. She further said: "This situation is a glaring lapse on the part of the officials-in-charge. We need to get rid of these employees at the earliest as it is not only causing substantial loss to the exchequer but also hampering one of major obligatory responsibility of the local body of keeping the city clean."