Sivasagar safai workers withdraw strike

HT Correspondent
SIVASAGAR, Aug 5: The safai workers’ strike in Sivasagar was withdrawn on Thursday following a pay hike announced by the Sivasagar Municipality Board (SMB). The casual safai workers demanded over Rs 20,000 salary per month besides other facilities which the SMB rejected as totally illogical. The chairperson of SMB Mrinali Konwar told this correspondent that SMB has been paying the highest amount to each individual safai worker in comparison to their counterparts in Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Demow, Amguri, and other towns. A safai worker now gets Rs 10,300 per month and the SMB decided to increase it to Rs 12,300 from this month. The safai workers claimed that they cannot maintain their daily expenses with their salaries when a liter of mustard oil costs around Rs 200 and a cylinder over a thousand rupees. They further demanded land pattas and other government facilities.
The ward commissioners on the other hand said that the safai workers do the job only for three to four hours a day while the other master roll workers have to do their jobs for eight hours a day for an equal amount of salaries. There are around 120 casual safai workers in SMB.