Gurgaon: MCG sanitation and sewer workers on Thursday suspended their three-day strike a day after police registered an FIR against Prashant Bhardwaj, the husband of ward 33 councillor Sarika Bhardwaj.The workers resumed duties after lunch but warned that the protest would resume if Bhardwaj was not arrested by Monday.
They announced that all sanitation workers would stage a protest outside the Gurgaon police commissioner’s office on Feb 9 if no arrest was made. The FIR was registered on Wednesday against Prashant over allegations of criminal intimidation and use of casteist slurs against sanitation workers. After Bhardwaj allegedly threatened sanitation and sewer workers with physical violence on Monday, MCG workers stopped work and gathered for three consecutive days at the old municipal corporation office. They launched the strike on Tuesday.The workers, protesting under the banner of the MCG Employees Union, Haryana, made it clear that the filing of an FIR alone was “insufficient”. Union leaders said that failure to arrest the accused despite serious charges reflected “political pressure and administrative apathy”.The FIR was registered under sections related to criminal intimidation, obstruction of govt work and provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. However, more than 24 hours after the FIR was filed, police were yet to make an arrest.Union president Basant Kumar convened a meeting on Thursday and said the strike was being suspended for two days only in the interest of the general public. “Registering an FIR is not enough. The police administration failed to arrest the accused,” Kumar said, warning that continued inaction would force workers to intensify their agitation.Union leaders termed the delay in arrest a “gross injustice” to Dalit sanitation workers. The union alleged that Bhardwaj continued to openly threaten employees and union leaders on social media, mocking the police and the rule of law.
