Patiala MC to hold House meet on Oct 15, workers’ regularisation on agenda

The court ordered fresh polls after a fact-finding judicial commission found irregularities in the 2024 municipal elections.

With the State Election Commission yet to announce the poll schedule, the model code of conduct is yet to come into force. On this basis, the legal opinion has cleared the way for the General House meeting.

Under the state government’s policy, the General House would pass a resolution recommending the regularisation of their services. The recommendation would subsequently be forwarded to the state government for approval, he added.

Gogia said regularising the workers’ services would entail an additional annual expenditure of around Rs 50 lakh, for which the corporation have made “sufficient financial arrangements”.

Several other municipal bodies in Punjab have already passed similar resolutions following the state government’s decision to regularise contractual sanitation workers.

The Mayor said the corporation had also constituted a committee to examine the proposal to engage the services of at least 92 outsourced sanitation workers directly on a contractual basis. The issue would be taken up by the General House after the committee submitted its report.

Meanwhile, sanitation workers staged a protest on the premises of the MC office on Tuesday, demanding the regularisation of contractual employees and the direct engagement of the 92 outsourced workers on a contractual basis.

The Municipal Employees Action Committee activists Sunil Bidwan and Ramesh Gaichand have warned the state government that sanitation workers would launch an indefinite strike from November 11, if the services of contractual employees were not regularised by then.