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Sanitation staff strike raises stink in Doon, residents fume
Overflowing heaps of garbage and smell of rotten trash welcome Doonites and visitors these days in Dehradun
Overflowing heaps of garbage and smell of rotten trash welcome Doonites and visitors these days in Dehradun.
Six days after more than 400 employees engaged in cleaning city went on strike, the administration seems helpless to resolve the crisis.
Finance minister Prakash Pant on Sunday asked striking employees of Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) and other departments, who are also on strike, to resume work.
This comes a day after chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said he does not want the state to become a ‘hartal pradesh’ (state known for strikes).
Despite all the appeals, the striking employees of DMC refused to soften stand until their demands are met.
Rajesh Kumar, president of Municipal Corporation Employees Union, said the government should implement the promise that it made in November 2016.
“There are 408 people engaged in Mohalla Swatchta Samiti. We have been demanding to take them in contract for the past 18 months and the demand has been repeatedly neglected,” Kumar said, adding that they will finish strike only when government comes out with an official order to engage temporary workers on contractual basis. The union also held a demonstration to press its demand.
With the problem aggravating with the each passing day, the local administration hinted that if the government agrees, than it might go for ‘alternative arrangements’ that includes brining workers from outstation.
The people, meanwhile, vented their anger on social media. Facebook and Twitter are flooded with photos of garbage everywhere and users expressing resentment over the state of affairs.
“The day voters will realise the importance of vote, the governments and government employees will think twice before taking people for granted,” wrote Sunil Hatwal on his Twitter handle @sun_hwr.
The Congress also trained its guns on the government. Party leader Suryakant Dhasmana questioned what happened to the ‘double engine’ (a symbolic word to term BJP government in state and centre).
“The state capital has become a messy place to live. The mayor, government, administration – no one interested in sorting out the problem (of garble disposal),” he said on Sunday.
