Hisar dy mayor picks up broom
HISAR: As ‘safai karamcharis’ (sanitation workers) continue their strike for job regularisation among other demands, Hisar deputy mayor Bhim Mahajan went on to clean Multani chowk area himself, with his team members on Sunday. He later dumped the collected garbage at a dumping area near Dhandhoor village.
Local residents continue to be hassled by the strike as some have to travel as far as three kilometres to dump their trash.
On Monday, the protesting workers reached the office of Hisar MLA Kamal Gupta and shouted anti-government slogans. The workers also gheraoed Gupta’s office and demanded that the government listen to their problems. The workers, who have been on strike since May 9, are demanding job regularisation, equal scales at par with Punjab sanitation employees and 100 sq feet land to build houses.
There are 711 safai karamcharis employed with the municipal corporation (MC) in Hisar.
FILTH EVERYWHERE
Sources in the MC said around 125 to 150 tonne garbage is cleaned from the city everyday. Now, around 800 to 900 tonnes of garbage is lying undisposed in Hisar. Praveen Kumar, presdient, Nagar Palika Karamchari Sangh, said, “Today, we took out a protest march in Hisar and handed over a memorandum to MLA Kamal Gupta, who assured us that the government will look into our demands. Our other state leaders will hold a meeting with the government and the protest will continue if our demands are not fulfilled.”
RESIDENTS AT THE RECEIVING END
Meanwhile, Kamlesh Devi, a resident of housing board area said, “It’s been six days since door-todoor garbage collection was stopped due to the strike. All mini dumping zones are overfilled. What do we do with our trash?”
On Sunday, deputy mayor Bhim Mahajan started cleaning the Multani chowk area. Mahajan told mediapersons, “Cleaning the area where you live is really important, so we have taken it upon ourselves to do it as the workers are on strike. We collected the garbage and dumped it at Dhandoor dumping area.”