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...relief on the cards as sanitation staff end stir in Ludhiana
Union representatives agreed to suspend the agitation after the government assured them that most of their long-pending demands had been accepted, while discussions on the remaining issues would continue at a follow-up meeting on Monday
Ahead of chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s visit to Ludhiana on Sunday, sanitation workers on Saturday called off their strike in the city following talks with the Punjab government, paving the way for an extensive garbage clearance drive after nearly six days of disruption in waste collection.
The chief minister will inaugurate a School of Eminence in the city on Sunday.
The breakthrough came after a meeting between Punjab local government minister Harjot Singh Bains and leaders of sanitation workers’ unions.
Union representatives agreed to suspend the agitation after the government assured them that most of their long-pending demands had been accepted, while discussions on the remaining issues would continue at a follow-up meeting on Monday.
Dalit leader announces end of strike
Announcing the decision, Dalit leader Naresh Dhingan said the worsening inconvenience caused to residents by mounting heaps of uncollected garbage had also weighed on the unions’ decision to withdraw the strike.
“The public has suffered because of the accumulation of waste. Keeping that in mind, we have decided to withdraw the strike after the assurances given by the government,” Dhingan said.
The agitation had been launched by sanitation workers and members of the Valmiki community in protest against the alleged police
lathi-charge on sanitation workers in Barnala and to press for long-pending demands, including the regularisation of contractual employees.
During the six-day strike, garbage accumulated across markets, residential areas and roadsides, triggering concerns over public health amid the monsoon.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Bains announced a series of measures aimed at addressing the workers’ demands.
He said outsourced sanitation workers who have completed three years of continuous service would be brought under direct contracts with effect from August 1.
He also announced that
the monthly remuneration of contractual sanitation workers had been revised to ₹20,520, nearly double what many workers were previously receiving. Bains said the government appreciated the unions’ decision to withdraw the strike, considering the inconvenience caused to residents and the sanitation concerns arising from the prolonged
disruption in garbage collection. Soon after the announcement, the municipal corporation launched a special sanitation drive across the city.
Teams of sanitation workers, supported by JCB machines, tippers and other equipment, were deployed on Saturday evening to clear garbage that had accumulated during the strike.
Municipal Corporation Employees’ Union president DP Khosla said a formal announcement regarding the withdrawal of the strike would be made at the protest site on Sunday morning, following which sanitation workers would resume normal duties.
