Gurugram: The sanitation workers of the civic body called off their 10-day long strike on Saturday after they were assured by the Haryana government that their grievances will be addressed.
Sanitation workers on strike were not collecting garbage littered on streets across the city, punctured waste dumpers and allegedly stopped private contractors from clearing the waste dumped on main carriageways, while continuing with their ongoing protest during Diwali.
According to officials, 6,000 employees and contractual workers of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) were on strike from October 19, and they had stopped cleaning streets in residential areas and public places. It had resulted in the pile-up of garbage in different areas across Gurugram.
The decision to withdraw the strike was taken by the Nagar Palika Karamchari Sangh after a meeting with urban local bodies minister Kamal Gupta and other government officials in state capital Chandigarh on Saturday. Officials said that a meeting was also held in Gurugram on Saturday and officials had tried to pacify the sanitation workers, but they remained adamant on their demands.
Ram Singh, president of Nagar Nigam Safai Karamchari Sangh, a sanitation workers’ union, said their representatives took the decision to call off the strike after discussions with the state government.
{{/usCountry}}Ram Singh, president of Nagar Nigam Safai Karamchari Sangh, a sanitation workers’ union, said their representatives took the decision to call off the strike after discussions with the state government.
{{/usCountry}}“The state government has assured us that it will consider our demands and has agreed to come up with a policy for the regularisation of our jobs. Moreover, the government has agreed to recruit all outsourced staff on the municipal corporation’s payroll. If we find that false hope has been given, we will again protest against the state government and will start another strike,” Singh said.
Singh said their main demands are abolition of the contractual labour system, implementation of equal pay and restoration of the old pension scheme.
Hundreds of sanitation workers on Sunday resumed work and were seen picking garbage on roads, near markets and residential areas and cleaning streets.
MCG joint commissioner Naresh Kumar said that the strength of workers on duty was still low on Sunday but they are expecting more workers from Monday. “We will start a cleanliness drive on Monday and will start getting all areas and streets cleaned. We have also started cleaning roads with hose pipes and water is being sprinkled across roads,” he said.
Kumar said that he is continuously monitoring the situation to ensure that garbage dumping spots across the city are cleared every morning. “We are using 11 machines to clean the city,” he said.
Gurugram generates 1,300 tonnes of garbage daily, according to MCG data. MCG has nearly 6,500 sanitation workers sourced from different private firms, but only 250 regular employees for collecting garbage.