After the state government agreed to some of the demands, the sanitation workers called off their strike on Sunday morning. Soon, the sanitation workers started cleaning the garbage from roads after 18 days of strike.
The officials of Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) claimed that the piled garbage, scattered all over Gurgaon, will be cleared by Sunday evening.
“We have mobilised our resources and the process for clearing waste off the streets started in full swing from last night onwards. We are working overtime and expect streets to be cleared by Sunday evening,” Vivek Kalia, joint commissioner of MCG said.
MCG workers were also seen picking garbage from the areas such as Kanhai village, Sadar Bazaar, sector 14, 15, 7, 10 and Palam Vihar on Saturday. They said that around 5 tons of waste was piled up at these places during the strike in last 15 days.
The residents were having tough time negotiating the stench and unhealthy conditions. They had started avoiding the places where garbage was piled up. Now, they are hopeful that the unhealthy condition will soon be sorted out.
“I am a regular visitor of Sadar Bazaar and had started avoiding the area owing to the severe stench from the collected heap of garbage. I was informed by a family member that MCG officials were cleaning the area in the morning, as a result of which I was able to visit the market for daily essential after a gap of nearly two weeks,” Bhanu Sharma, a resident of Civil Lines, said.
The workers were happy with the government agreeing to some of their demands and they vowed to get back to work as soon as possible.
“The state government has increased our monthly salary to Rs 13,500 from Rs 10,000, promised to end the task of outsourcing the work to private contractors and formed a committee to ensure contractual employees are made permanent. As the government has adhered to the major demands, we ended our strike and have returned to work,” Naresh Kumar Malkat, a member of Nagar Nigam Karamchari Sangh, said.
On Wednesday, the state government informed that they have formed a committee to address the issue of sanitation workers. The committee was led by Urban Local Bodies minister Kavita Jain, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Kumar Bedi, and Minister of State for Cooperation Manish Grover.
