Residents pick up the broom in Greater Noida as sanitation strike enters 15th day

The sanitation workers employed by Greater Noida authority have been on a strike since November 6, over their longstanding demands, including a salary hike to bring it on par with that of authority officials

Even as the strike by sanitation workers in Greater Noida entered its 15th day on Tuesday, the residents came forward to undertake cleaning activities and rescue the city from the piling garbage and trash, which has started raising a stink.

As residents are now troubled by the continuing strike by sanitation workers, many have come forward to pick up brooms and sweep their streets. (HT Photo)

Residents came out on to the roads and started sweeping up littered areas that have remained unattended for around two weeks.

Residents of Beta 1 said garbage collection service has been halted in their area, causing problems for locals. “It has been more than 15 days since trash has been lifted from our area. Heaps of garbage can be seen in all localities, attracting flies, stray dogs and other animals who drag the garbage around, spreading it even more,” said Shalabh Singh, a resident of Beta 1.

Similar is the condition of other places including Sector Omicron where garbage was seen lying unattended, raising a stink. The other sectors in a bad shape are Alpha, Delta and Gamma, said residents.

Harinder Bhati, member of active citizens’ group, a resident of Sector Beta 1 said, “As residents are now troubled by the continuing strike by sanitation workers, many have come forward to pick up brooms and sweep their streets. On Monday, locals swept roads and picked the accumulated trash from the roadsides. Last week, too, we engaged people in cleaning area but this cannot go on.”

“Greater Noida is a big city and people are facing an acute problem in the absence of proper sanitation services. A handful have been engaged by the authority but they are sufficient to clean the city, given its size,” said Bhati.

Notably, around 300 tonnes of municipal solid waste is generated in Greater Noida on a daily basis,, according to authority officials.

The sanitation workers employed by Greater Noida authority have been on a strike since November 6, over their longstanding demands, including a salary hike to bring it on par with that of authority officials.

“We have been staging protests for two weeks now but nothing has been done to address our issues. Instead, we are being threatened with legal action, withholding of salaries, etc, by the authority. We are not in favour of boycotting our duties but we have no other alternative,” said Ranbeer Janghara, district president, Sanyukt Morcha Safai Karamchari.

Among the demands being raised by the sanitation workers include pay parity with authority staff at ₹20,000. The association is alleging that a GO (government order) dated January 1, 2023, for salary hike of fourth grade employees of the authority was issued but 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.

The sanitation workers’ association has also alleged that the salaries of different months of around 500 workers have not been released and Diwali bonus was also not given to them.

Greater Noida authority, meanwhile, has been maintaining that it has released the due salaries and bonus was also granted. In a statement, it said, “Discussions are ongoing regarding the issues raised while salary and bonus have already been released. Action will be initiated against the workers who are not returning to their duties”.