NDMC workers protest shift to new payscale

Employees said they were unhappy about the fact that the matter was not decided in the council meeting and that their initial demand that all NDMC employees should draw SS scales was rejected. “Instead,the management has done something completely opposite,” a member of the demonstration said on the condition of anonymity.

The NDMC Worker’s Federation,which organised the demonstration,has also written a letter to the Lieutenant-Governor,asking him to intervene in the matter.

The SS Scale was first introduced in 1972 for the benefit of workers of the Electricity department of the agency,as their work involved hazards. Later,some workers of other departments were also included,resulting in no uniform pay scale being followed in the civic body. Workers who were not getting salaries according to the SS Scales moved the Supreme Court,which ordered that the anomalies should be settled by NDMC itself.

NDMC then set up a Bharat Bhushan Committee to look into the matter and it submitted a report in July.

The protestors said a council meeting held then had decided to implement the SS Scale for all its employees,only to come up with a different order this month.