Garbage piles up in Gurugram as sanitation workers goes on strike

The sanitation workers alleged that they have always been given “false hopes” of regularisation and increments

The outsourced sanitation workers of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) once again went on a strike demanding regularisation and wage increment, officials said on Wednesday. The strike has again resulted in the piling up of garbage across the city causing trouble for the public.

Garbage scattered on Khandsa road due to the ongoing sanitation workers’ strike, in Gurugram on Wednesday. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

The sanitation workers alleged that they have always been given “false hopes” of regularisation and increments. The protesters also threatened to hold marches across the city, go on hunger strike and stop cleaning the city if their demands are not met within a week.

Officials said this would not affect door-to-door garbage collection across the city.

According to officials, 3,000 employees and contractual workers of the MCG began a five-day strike on Tuesday. They had stopped cleaning streets in residential areas and public places which resulted in garbage piling up in different areas across Gurugram.

Ram Singh, president of Nagar Nigam Safai Karamchari Sangh, a sanitation workers’ union, said that despite promises by the government and MCG officials, nothing has been done on these fronts even after six months. “We are demanding regularisation of existing employees and hiring of more workers in accordance with the city’s growing requirements. Also, we are demanding abolition of the contractual labour system, implementation of equal pay and restoration of the old pension scheme,” he said.

Singh said they have not picked garbage nor done any sweeping on the Old Delhi-Gurugram Road, Dundahera, Sadar market, Khandsa and Jharsa areas. “We will hold a meeting on Saturday and decide the next course of action,” he said.

Earlier in October, sanitation workers had stopped collecting garbage, littered the streets and even punctured the tyres of waste dumpers as part of their protest against MCG.

Naresh Malkat, state secretary of Nagar Palika Karamchari Sangh, said, “Each time the government has given us false promises and betrayed us several times. If the situation remains the same, we will be forced to stop sweeping the roads and garbage will not be lifted. Sewer cleaning workers have not been recruited in accordance with the city’s population. Many sanitation workers died of Covid-19 over the past three years, but nothing has been done to recruit more people,” he said.

MCG officials said that Gurugram has 3,137 sanctioned posts, all of which are currently filled. Hence, no recruitment can take place, officials said. However, the workers contended that there is a requirement of around 6,250 sanitation workers given the city’s population of over a million.

MCG joint commissioner Naresh Kumar said the outsourced sanitation workers and union try to pressurise them to fulfil their demands, but they have got the areas cleaned by their staff. “We will not accept their demands if they keep threatening us,” he said.