BANGALORE: Following a strike by employees of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) protesting against the direct recruitment drive, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has directed the civic body to temporarily stay the process.

Hundreds of BBMP employees, under the banner of BMP Noukarara Kendriya Sangha, staged a dharna in front of the BBMP head office. Opposing the new recruitment drive, the employees demanded that the civic body implement the employees' service rules in toto.

R. Subramaniam, president of the sangha, told The Hindu that the workers were against the BBMP's decision to recruit new staff and also hire them on contract.

With most employees joining the dharna, almost all services offered by the BBMP were slightly affected till Monday afternoon after which most workers except the office-bearers resumed work. BBMP Commissioner K Jairaj, who met Mr. Kumaraswamy and apprised him about the strike, later announced that the recruitment process had been put on hold temporarily.

`Illegal'

In a press release, Mr Jairaj, who termed the strike as "illegal," said it was unfortunate that the employees resorted to "such unlawful methods" instead of having a dialogue with him.

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