Jaipur sanitation workers became the centre of a political dispute after Congress councillors alleged that the Jaipur Municipal Corporation failed to deploy temporary staff promised for Diwali despite initiating a process involving expenditure of about ₹2.9 crore. The councillors are demanding answers from Mayor Sunil Kothari and have begun protesting in the Civil Lines zone.
According to the allegations reported by Times of India, the mayor had assured councillors at a meeting of Civil Lines zone representatives at the JMC headquarters that 20 additional temporary sanitation workers would be assigned to each of the city’s 150 wards from October 15 to November 15. The proposed deployment would have covered up to 3,000 temporary workers during the period.
The councillors alleged that the promised workforce was not visible in their wards, even as the civic body proceeded with a ward-wise cleanliness drive. They said officials told them the additional workers had been deployed for the campaign, but the workers were not present when the drive reached their respective wards.
Jitendra Sharma, councillor from Ward 93, said the assurance was made before Diwali and that repeated inquiries about the workers did not resolve the issue. “We were promised 20 additional temporary sanitation workers for every ward,” he said, according to the report. Sharma also alleged that the cleanliness campaign did not result in the promised deployment.
Sitaram Mehra, councillor from Ward 91, separately alleged that no additional sanitation workers were assigned to his ward and that cleanliness did not improve. He further claimed that officials offered him money when he sought the promised workers. Mehra also alleged that workers stopped visiting his ward after he raised the issue with senior officials.
The councillors have described the cleanliness campaign as a formality, alleging that officials and staff left after an oath-taking ceremony. Their claims raise questions about how temporary sanitation contracts are authorised, assigned and monitored across individual wards, although the supplied report does not establish whether funds were released, paid or misused.
Congress councillors from the Civil Lines zone are currently protesting against the mayor. They have warned that councillors from across Jaipur will join a larger demonstration if the dispute is not resolved. The allegations place the municipal corporation’s ward-level sanitation monitoring and expenditure records under scrutiny during a period when additional waste and cleaning demands were expected.
The councillors’ next stated step is to expand the protest if the issue remains unresolved. The report does not include a response from the mayor or the Jaipur Municipal Corporation to the allegations regarding worker deployment, payments or the proposed ₹2.9 crore expenditure.
