Residents of Kaimur district headquarters suffer due to indefinite strike of sanitation workers
The sanitation workers have been on an indefinite strike, demanding permanent jobs and payment of minimum wages.
Rotting filth and garbage are piling inside Kaimur district headquarters in Bihar’s Bhabua as the indefinite strike of Nagar Parishad (local urban body) sanitation workers continued for the fifth day on Saturday, officials said.
People are suffering a lot due to foul smell and other hygiene problems as garbage was not picked from lanes and roads. They are fearing the spread of diseases with mosquitoes, flies and insects multiplying.
The sanitation workers were on an indefinite dharna in front of the Nagar Parishad office for four days. They raised slogans against the state government and drew a protest march through the main thoroughfares of the town on Saturday. They called the people to support their 11-point charter of demands, including permanent jobs and payment of minimum wages.
Rashtriya mahadalit sangh’s state president Vijay Kumar Rawat, who led the agitation, said, most of the sanitation workers from mahadalit community were working with the urban body since their forefathers. But they were kept on daily wages through middlemen and were not paid even the minimum wages as per the Minimum Wages Act.
The poor people had been working in unhygienic and inhuman conditions but the middlemen removed them after the latter demanded minimum wages and better work conditions, Rawat said.
“We are demanding ₹18,000 to ₹21,000 monthly salary provided under the act, making the service permanent of the workers who completed 10 years of service as well as hygienic and humane work conditions. The strike would be continued till the fulfilment of demands,” Rawat said.
Nagar Parishad chairman Jainendra Kumar Arya said that 80-85 sanitation workers had been kept and paid ₹393 daily as per the directions of the state’s urban development department. The urban body was bound to follow the department’s directions and had no role in the process. The body was trying to maintain the sanitation services in the town with the help of 105 sanitation workers provided by an outsourcing agency for door-to-door garbage collection.