MC Horticulture Department employees held a massive protest and demonstration.

MC Horticulture Department employees held a massive protest and demonstration. 

They called for a continuation of the struggle against corporation officials.

Chandigarh 9 December ( Ranjeet Singh Dhaliwal ) : At the call of the CMC Horticulture Workers Union, Chandigarh, a massive protest was held today, December 9, 2025, in front of the Municipal Corporation office in Sector 17. A large number of employees from various booths of the Horticulture Department participated in the protest. In addition to the office bearers of the Federation of UT Employees and Workers, Chandigarh, office bearers of related unions and leaders of the United Employees Front also participated in the protest and expressed their support for the struggle of the horticulture workers. 

The protest was chaired by Union President Harkesh Chand. Addressing the protest, Union General Secretary M.M. Subramaniam, Vice President Budhram, Joint Secretary Ajaib Singh, Cashier Hardeep Singh, President Nihal Singh, Bhag Singh Gurpreet Singh, Perumal, Mata Sharan, Satpal, Rajendra Kumar, Devi Chand, Sohanlal, Ayyapan, Sandeep, Naresh Kumar, Param Shivam, etc., reprimanded the corporation authorities and senior officials of the department, saying that due to the negative attitude of the officials, even the minor and very important and legitimate demands of the employees have been pending for a long time, due to which the employees are being forced to resort to frequent strikes and demonstrations. He sharply criticized the officials, stating that the Municipal Corporation officials are paying no attention to the long-standing demands of the Horticulture Department employees and are deliberately ignoring them, causing considerable anger among the employees. 

He said that despite repeated memorandums and meetings with Municipal Corporation officials, the demands of the Horticulture employees have been pending for a long time, and the officials are reluctant to implement the demands, and some officials are even engaging in anti-union activities. He said that due to the negative and anti-employee attitude of the officials, demands like early allotment of tenders, bonus to outsourced employees, regularisation of daily wage employees who have completed 10 years after 2006 and providing them basic pay, DA, HR, ACCA, medical, regularisation of temporary employees who have completed 10 years and securing their jobs and providing equal pay for equal work, providing oil, soap and uniforms to daily wage, contract and outsourced employees on the basis of MOH, revised DC rate to the remaining employees, increasing the ESI deduction limit from Rs. 21,000 to Rs. 35,000, providing GPF statements of employees, giving jobs to dependents of deceased employees by removing the 5% ceiling, early disbursement of pension and gratuity etc. to retired employees, bringing all outsourced employees under the department with immediate effect and promptly issuing ID cards to them by the MC, etc. are pending. Instead of acceding to the demands, officials are rapidly handing over green belts and parks to private societies, threatening temporary workers with layoffs. This cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. 

Addressing the protest, Federation of UT Employees and Workers Chandigarh President Gopal Dutt Joshi, President Rajendra Katoch, UT Powermen Union President Amrik Singh, MC Electrical President Tarun Jaiswal, Water Supply President Harpal Singh, Sector 16 Hospital President Ranjit Singh, MC Manimajra President Naseeb Singh, former Horticulture Department President Bhimsen, Solid Waste President Tejmani, Joint Employees Front Convener Vipin Sher Singh, Sukhbir Singh, and other fraternal organization leaders openly challenged the municipal authorities, especially the engineering department officials, that if the demands of the horticulture workers working under the Municipal Corporation are not resolved immediately, the Federation and all its affiliated unions will launch a direct struggle against the department, and the engineering department officials will be held responsible for this. Former councilors Devendra Singh Babla and Dilip Sharma also attended the protest and strongly supported the demands of the horticulture workers. During the protest, a union delegation met with the department's Superintendent Engineer, Krishnapal Singh, to discuss pending demands and assured them of an early resolution.