Greater Noida forms team of 300 workers to tackle sanitation mess

Officials said the team will be carrying out sweeping of prominent locations, public places, and other prime areas during the night as well

With sanitation workers of Greater Noida authority showing no signs of ending their over two-week long strike demanding pay parity and other perks, the Greater Noida authority on Wednesday said it will form a “quick response team” of 300 workers to tackle the sanitation mess in the city.

Sanitation staff of the Greater Noida authority has been on a strike since the past two weeks. The demands being raised by the sanitation workers include pay parity with authority staff at ₹20,000 a month. (HT Photo)

The team will be responsible for taking up sanitation works in the city in the event of adverse circumstances such as strike by on-roll workers, to ensure that city remains clean.

Officials said the team will be carrying out sweeping of prominent locations, public places, and other prime areas during the night as well.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Greater Noida authority chief executive officer NG Ravi Kumar said, “Taking into account the current situation of the city and the issues being faced by the residents in the absence of sanitation work in the city, we have decided to form a ”quick response team“ of 300 workers who will be responsible for carrying out sanitation-related work in the city in the absence of workers or in case of adverse circumstances such as a protest/strike by workers.”

“Aside from the places that are left unattended due to the ongoing strike/protests, the team will also cover prime locations of the city, markets, and public places and conduct cleaning exercises during the night as well,” said Ravi Kumar.

“Despite several discussions with workers and their union and even after addressing some of their demands, the workers are adamant and not returning to work, causing major inconvenience to residents. Additional workers were roped in for addressing the situation but we are looking at a permanent solution to ensure such a situation does not arise again,” he said.

The demands being raised by the sanitation workers include pay parity with authority staff at ₹20,000 a month. The association claimed that a GO (government order) dated January 1, 2023, for salary hike of fourth grade employees of the authority was not implemented. Workers are being paid only up to ₹14,000 per month in-hand instead of ₹17,000 in-hand despite a GO in place.

Greater Noida had last week directed the contractors to initiate new hiring to replace striking workers. There are around 1,400 contractual sanitation workers under six contractors in the city.