The ongoing strike by sanitation workers in Patiala entered its 11th day on Tuesday, severely disrupting sanitation services across the city and leading to heaps of garbage piling up in several localities.
The protesting workers are demanding regularisation of services and abolition of the contractual employment system. The situation has worsened after technical staff of the electricity and public health wings of the Municipal Corporation also joined the strike in solidarity with sanitation workers. Garbage collection, street cleaning and lifting of waste from secondary dumping points have come to a near standstill, causing inconvenience and health concerns for residents.
Residents from different parts of the city alleged that garbage has not been lifted for many days. Bittu, a shopkeeper from Jujhar Nagar, said that waste was continuously accumulating at secondary dumping points as no lifting was being carried out to the landfill site.
“The garbage heaps are spreading foul smell in many areas and have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. It is posing a serious threat to public health,” BJP Councilor Anuj Khosla alleged.
The worst-affected areas include localities around the Badi Nadi and Choti Nadi drains, Ragho Majra, Guru Teg Bahadur Colony, Daru Kutia area, Rai Majra, Alipur, Tripuri, Manjit Nagar and Focal Point areas, besides several other parts of the city.
The residents said sanitation workers had stopped sweeping streets and were allegedly preventing other staff from lifting garbage, resulting in waste lying unattended on roadsides and near residential colonies.
The protesting workers maintained that they had been forced to intensify their agitation due to long-pending demands. Rajesh Kumar, a sanitation worker participating in the protest, said many safai karamcharis had been working with civic bodies for decades but their services had still not been regularised. “Our main demands are regularisation of services and an end to the contractual system. Workers face harassment from contractors and are deprived of job security despite years of service,” he said.
