Punjab: Sanitation workers end strike after MC puts waste mgmt project on hold

The strike had severely affected waste collection, leaving the city strewn with heaps of uncollected garbage, with an estimated 2,000 metric tonnes of waste piling up on roads and in residential areas

The sanitation workers on Monday ended their five-day strike after the Jalandhar municipal corporation assured them that the crucial ₹607-crore integrated solid waste management project would not be given final clearance.

Strike, which started on Aug 19, left the city strewn with heaps of uncollected garbage. (HT Photo)

The strike had severely affected waste collection, leaving the city strewn with heaps of uncollected garbage, with an estimated 2,000 metric tonnes of waste piling up on roads and in residential areas.

The sanitation workers began their strike on August 19 after the MC’s finance and contract committee approved the integrated solid waste management project. The unions have opposed the move, apprehending that handing over waste management operations to a private company could put the jobs of existing sanitation workers at risk.

The strike had put the Aam Aadmi Party-led Jalandhar MC in a spot, with both the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party stepping up criticism of the civic administration for its failure to tackle the situation.

Jalandhar MC commissioner Sandeep Rishi said the strike ended after a detailed discussion with representatives of the sanitation workers’ unions on Monday.

“We have decided to defer the project and not to table the agenda related to clearance of the solid waste management project in the general house meeting to be held on Tuesday,” Rishi said, adding that following the assurance from corporation officials, the sanitation workers have called off their strike and started lifting the garbage.

The MC’s finance and contract committee on August 19 had given a green signal to the project and awarded it to BVG India Limited.

According to the project, there was provision of daily door-to-door collection of garbage from 85 wards of Jalandhar city and its transportation to processing facilities, where wet waste would be converted into organic compost. The civic body was likely to pay the contractor approximately ₹75 crore annually for executing the project. The company was expected to collect nearly 630 metric tonnes of garbage on a daily basis and transport the same to the modern processing unit set up at Wariana dump site, where the corporation has acquired nine acres of additional land.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had recently slammed the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) for its “non-serious” approach in recovering an ₹8.4 crore fine from the Jalandhar municipal corporation for violating waste management rules.

Hearing a matter, the green body, in its order on August 12, directed the board to conduct a spot inspection to assess the quantity of legacy waste at the site.

Visiting different parts of the city on Monday, Jalandhar MP Charanjit Singh Channi criticised the civic administration over the deteriorating sanitation conditions.

“The stench has made the situation worse for Jalandhar residents. I am amazed at how people are living with heaps of garbage all around their localities,” he said.

Congress leader and Jalandhar Cantt MLA Pargat Singh also criticised the administration, saying the poor sanitation situation reflected its failure to provide basic civic amenities in the city. Senior BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia said the people of Jalandhar pay taxes and contribute to government revenues in various ways, but in return are being subjected to filth, foul smell and the threat of diseases.