Woman MCD councillor on Town Hall rooftop to `protest`

High drama was witnessed at the MCD headquarters here today when a woman councillor climbed atop the terrace of the Town Hall building and started raising slogans.

New Delhi: High drama was witnessed at the
MCD headquarters here today when a woman councillor climbed
atop the terrace of the Town Hall building and started raising
slogans alleging that the civic agency did not give proper
uniforms to its women sanitation workers.

Opposition Congress councillor Preeti also claimed that
when she tried to raise the issue at a meeting of the
Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), she was not allowed to
do so.

As soon as the meeting of the MCD House started, Preeti,
the councillor from Vivek Vihar, tried to raise a point of
order on the issue of the MCD not distributing proper
uniforms, but Deputy Chairman Rajesh Gehlot, who was presiding
over the session, did not allow her to speak on the matter at
that time.

Preeti claimed that she was not allowed to speak despite
several attempts to raise the matter.

After some time, she suddenly went out of the House and
climbed atop the terrace. She started raising slogans and said
she would not come down if her demands are not met and her
voice is "continued to be stifled".

The councillor was carrying an "improperly clothed"
mannequin to drive home her point on women sanitation workers.

A large number of onlookers including TV channel crew
gathered there and the unique protest went on for about an
hour before Gehlot came out on the courtyard, assured her to
look into all demands and persuaded her to come down.

Gehlot was presiding over the meeting as Mayor P R
Sawhney is on a visit abroad.

Preeti said she had to protest in this way as nobody was
paying attention otherwise. "The MCD has not distributed
sarees to woman sanitation workers and has only given them the
clothing items that accompany a saree. This is shameful," she
said.

"I also wanted to raise the issue of stopping of elderly
and widow pension after irregularities were found in the
scheme. This is a serious livelihood issue."

Preeti said she came down after Mayor assured to look
into all her demands.

"But BJP councillors called the police and started
threatening me that an attempt to suicide case will be filed.
There can be no such case as I was only registering my protest
and saying that I will stay on the rooftop till my demands are
met," she said.

PTI

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