Gurugram, Sep 30 : More than 500 contractual employees of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), including sanitation workers, drivers, clerks, guards, water pump operators, peons, gardeners, helpers and surveyors who were suddenly sacked by the MCG over the last four days, staged a protest here on Wednesday. The layoffs took place because the MCG reportedly had excess staff. Some of the sacked employees staged a demonstration on Wednesday under the banner of the Municipal Employees' Union of Haryana at the MCG office located at Sector-34 in Gurugram. "They were contractual employees. The terminated workers were not skilled enough to perform the assigned duties. These employees were sacked on the findings of the joint committee of the department, which had studied the requirements. New posts will be sanctioned soon depending upon the recent requirement of the civic bodies," a senior MCG official said on condition of anonymity. The fired employees said that some of them had been working with the civic body from the past several years and during these hard times of the Covid-19 pandemic, they have lost their employment. Meanwhile the members of the union submitted a memorandum urging the Additional Municipal Commissioner, Gurugram to fulfill their demands. "In these times of Covid-19 pandemic, when we require staff for fieldwork, the corporation has fired around 557 employees. The area of Gurugram MCG has increased, and the organisation is already suffering a staff crunch," the official added. "No sanitation worker should be fired from the job. During the lockdown, these employees worked hard day and night, and sacking them in such a situation is unjust. We are fighting for our rights and if our demands are not met this protest will soon convert into huge determination. The government should re-employ them," Municipal Employees Union of Haryana President Rajesh Sarwan said. /IANS