Even as officials at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) have held multiple rounds of discussions with protesting Multi Task Staff (MTS) since last week, thousands of frontline workers continued their strike for the 10th straight day on Wednesday. Standardised pay, medical and earned leaves, and jobs for family members of deceased employees — these are the main demands of the protesters as they seek benefits similar to regularised workers. A total of 4,500 contractual workers in the MTS category, which includes domestic [mosquito] breeding checkers (DBC), and contractual field workers (CFW), have boycotted their work since last Monday.The demonstration has been ongoing in front of gate number 5 of the MCD headquarters in New Delhi’s Ajmeri Gate, where around 600-700 protesters are present at a given time.This is not the first time that these employees, who are at the primary level in the Health department, are agitating. In August 2023, a strike was called for three days after which the domestic breeding checkers (DBC) — considered the backbone of the civic body in combating vector-borne diseases such as malaria — were given positions as MTS in the Health department. Sources, however, had earlier told The Indian Express that these positions were never intended to be permanent.According to protesters, the ‘MTS’ tag without a fixed status or related benefits is of no use.The posts for the DBCs were created after the 1996 dengue outbreak in the Capital, when the city recorded 10,252 cases and 423 deaths in a year. “Initially, seeing the epidemic kind of situation, the MCD started hiring workers, but that practice lasted for just 19 days. After the situation came under control, a decision was made to hire DBCs on contractual basis from 1997 onwards,” a senior official of the civic body said.The protesters claim that they have been given assurances in the past by political leaders that their long-standing demands will be met. However, many years later, their struggle continues.Devanand Sharma, general secretary of the Anti-Malaria Ekta Karmachari Union, said, “BJP’s state president Virendra Sachdeva promised that our demands will be met after the party comes to power (ahead of February elections)… yet nothing has happened. He added that even as Sachdeva said he had written a letter to the MCD, he no longer meets them. “We do not want to politicise the struggle, whoever comes they are welcomed.”Story continues below this adSachdeva could not be contacted to seek a comment on the matter.AAP leader Ankush Narang, who has visited the protest site thrice since the stir started said, “Despite the BJP’s four-engine government in Delhi, the BJP-ruled MCD is unable to even arrange a salary of just Rs 5 crore per month for its MTS employees.”According to officials, to meet the demands of the workers to give them benefits like regular workers, the provisions of the contract will have to be legally vetted.“Protesting during the transmission season (of vector-borne diseases) is negligence… The workers know that theirs have been contractual jobs since the start,” said an official. According to the data, the malaria and chikungunya cases in the Capital are at five-year high in 2025.Story continues below this adThe document signed by the contractual workers in 2025 reads, “This engagement is purely temporary in nature and on contract basis for a period of one year or till such time the post is filled up on regular basis through Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB), whichever is earlier, therefore the corporation shall not consider any claim for regularisation of services on permanent basis in MCD at any point of time.”The pay, it stated, is according to the Labour Welfare Department of Govt. of NCT of Delhi till the expiry of the contract period.Sharma alleged that no contract was made available to be signed between 2010 to 2023. “If any worker signed, they were under pressure because of fear of not getting the job,” he said.On the demand for jobs for family members of deceased employees, an official said that at least 386 jobs have been provided so far.Story continues below this adAs the deadlock continues, a proposal is set to be tabled at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Thursday to standardise payments for employees across all 12 zones at Rs. 27,900.Protesters say they would still wait and watch. “Even if the proposal gets passed, we won’t accept it till the MCD Commissioner approves it.”