The sanitation worker from Uttar Pradesh's Mathura, who was sacked after a video of him carrying portraits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a garbage cart went viral, has been reinstated, a report in The Indian Express said. The reinstatement letter was received by the sanitation worker, named Bobby, on Tuesday morning.
Mathura civic officials said Bobby would resume his duties soon, the Indian Express report said. The municipal health officer of Mathura Nagar Nigam, Dr Karim Akhtar Qureshi, said Bobby had apologised for his action to the municipal commissioner, following which he was reinstated. He was advised to be more cautious in future.
"Bobby had filed an appeal where he apologised for his actions and assured that he won’t commit it again and said he will continue to work with sincerity and honesty. He also stated that he is the sole breadwinner of his family and based on this he was reinstated," Qureshi told Express.
Last week, Bobby's contract was terminated after he was allegedly seen carrying a trash cart that had portraits of PM Modi and CM Adityanath in it. He was issued a show cause notice and was asked to give an explanation.
The incident came to limelight after a video was circulated in which the worker was seen pushing the cart through a neighbourhood in Mathura.
One of the videos showed people asked Bobby about the photos with the garbage in his barrow. The sanitation worker responded that he found them lying on a street and he was just performing his task.
Following the incident, Bobby said he was only doing his job by collecting garbage from the streets. He said it was not his mistake that the portraits of the PM and the UP CM were dumped on the road.
"Before initiating action, at least what actually happened, in reality, should be considered and it should have been ascertained whether I was at fault or not," he was quoted as saying in a PTI report.