VMC sweepers ransack ward office over suicide of a colleague

Vadodara, Sep 1 (UNI) A day after a sweeper of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) committed suicide by jumping off the four-storeyed Corporation building, a 500-strong mob of class IV employees, today ransacked VMC ward office number five at Shiyabaug.

The angry employees, who ransacked the office of the ward officer and the departments of sanitary and complaint registration, later set on fire all the furniture, machinery, telephones and files at the main entrance. According to VMC sources, property worth over Rs 2 lakh was damaged in the incident.

The employees had given an ultimatum to the VMC authorities to fulfill their three-point charter of demands within 24 hours.

Otherwise, all the sweepers of the Corporation would go on an indefinite strike, Akhil Bhartiya Safai Mazdoor Congress President Jamnadas Bapu told UNI.

The demands included Rs 5 lakh compensation to deceased Bhikhabhai Harijan's kin, a job to one of his kin and a departmental inquiry to unravel the mystery behind his suicide.

51-year-old Bhikhabhai, who had ''unauthorisedly'' remained absent from his duty at VMC ward office number five for four days, jumped to death from the terrace of the Corporation's main office at the historic Khanderao Market building at around 1700 hours yesterday.

Police has registered a case of suicide and investigation is on.

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