The youth wings of CPI-M, mainly Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), today staged a protest in large numbers in front of the Kolkata Municipal corporation (KMC), demanding the filling up of about 26,000 vacant posts in the civic body, and met the KMC mayor regarding the issue.

The protest led to a scuffle with the police and a total of 21 persons have been arrested. The DYFI members today gathered in front of the KMC headquarters, demanding that the vacant posts in the KMC, which is more than 26000, be fulfilled.

The police had quickly put up barricades at the spot. Just as the sloganeering “Inquilab Zindabad” began, several of the DYFI members were, however, seen pushing the barricades.

In an effort to quell the disturbance, the police quickly swung into action to contain the agitated crowd. The protest eventually led to a scuffle with the police.

The DYFI members alleged that even civic volunteers resorted to lathi charge. Few of the DYFI leaders went inside civic body headquarters to take up the matter with the mayor, Firhad Hakim.

Talking to the media, one of the leaders said, “We submitted our memorandum of demands to the mayor which mainly concerns recruitment in 26,375 vacant posts in the KMC. The posts have been lying vacant for long. The mayor told us that request for sanction for around 9,000 posts has been sent to the state government, following which the advertisements for the recruitment will be carried out in October. By, December, the posts will be filled. We will come back again in October to claim our rights.”

It may be mentioned that the mayor, Firhad Hakim, recently, during the last KMC House meeting, admitted that around 26,375 posts remain vacant and had stated that request has been sent to the state government for recruitment to these posts.

He also had informed that the recruitment will be carried out in phases. One of the DYFI leader alleged “The police resorted to lathi-charge and so did the civic volunteers. We do not know why the police attacked us since we were here to voice our demands. They jumped on us.”

Police sources, however, refuted the allegations and claimed that they did not resort to lathi-charge.