Sanitation staff strike ends, garbage still on roads

Roads of the city looked more like garbage dumps till Monday evening. An estimated 25 tonne of waste produced by the city in the last five days has not been lifted by the safai karamcharis of the Municipal Corporation as they had been on strike. The waste from the dumping sites has spilled on the roads, leaving just the half width for the movement of traffic.

Managing the garbage issue and the issues of the MC staff has become a headache for the state government. The strike that ended today had been led by former safai karamchari and now AAP leader and chairperson of the Punjab Safai Karamchari Commission Chandan Grewal. The safai karamcharis took a written, signed undertaking from Mayor Vaneet Dhir and MC Commissioner Gautam Jain before calling off the strike. Dhir had taken over as Mayor about four months back on the main agenda that he would ensure proper cleanliness of the city.

The main demand flagged by the staff was getting extra wages for working on weekends, festivals and government holidays. They said they need to be given 13 monthly salaries for working on these days over which the authorities assured them that the provision would be moved as a resolution before the MC House in the next meeting.

In return, they also sought an assurance from the sanitation staff that they would maintain attendance registers and draw salaries through iHRMS portal. “Our other demands included regularisation of JCB operators, promotions of drivers, sewermen and filling posts of gardener, watchman and baildar. We have also sought assurance for regular appointments and not through outsource mode as is being done via City Livelihood Committees", said Chandan, adding that he stood with his community on the issues of their alleged exploitation and victimisation.

Two weeks back, Local Bodies Minister Dr Ravjot Singh had visited the city and had asked the officials and the MC staff to ensure that proper cleanliness was maintained. The sanitation staff of the MC had retorted saying that they need adequate staff for that. There are about 1200 safai karamcharis in the city. While the city’s limit has been expanding, there has been no fresh recruitment of sanitation staff since 2011.

Jalandhar