Back to work, sanitation staff clean main roads

THE SANITATION STAFF SAID THEY HAVE CLEANED THE TRASH THAT HAD PILED UP IN VIKAS MARG, PREET VIHAR, NIRMAN VIHAR, ANAND VIHAR, ETC

NEWDELHI: A day after the sanitation workers of the east Delhi municipal corporation (EDMC) called off their 28-day strike, the main east Delhi arterial roads, which had piled up with garbage, were cleaned up on Wednesday.

The sanitation workers claimed that they have already cleaned all the trash that had piled up in Vikas Marg, Preet Vihar, Nirman Vihar, Anand Vihar and Krishna Nagar.

Municipal corporation of Delhi Swachhata Karmachari Union (MCDSKU) president Sanjay Gehlot said, “All the 16,000 sanitation staff are working on war-footing. In both – Shahdara south and Shahdara north zones, we ensured garbage collection from main roads. In a day or two, we will move to the internal lanes in residential areas.”

The workers had been striking since September 12 over regularisation of contractual employees, payment of dues and regular disbursal of salaries. Although one faction of sanitation workers had not called off its strike on Saturday, the rest joined work after they were assured that their demands would be met.

So far, the EDMC has regularised six of the 4,800 contractual sanitation workers. On the issue, Gehlot said, “The process of regularisation is time consuming because past records and payment vouchers of all employees need to be verified. Taking all contractual employees on roll will take time.”

Meanwhile, east Delhi mayor Bipin Bihari said, “Since the festive season has already begun, we will work day and night to lift garbage from the streets. Roads will be swept during day and loaders will lift garbage at nights.”

On a daily basis, east Delhi generates about 2,600 metric tonne of garbage. Of the total, 2,200 metric tonne garbage is collected and sent for processing every day. However, only 1,600 metric tonne of garbage was being lifted over the course of the strike with the help of private trucks and auto tippers. “Around 1,000 metric tonne was being left on the streets as the sanitation workers’ strike. It will take time to clear all the mess,” a senior EDMC official said.

Pooja Dhawan, a resident of Krishan Nagar, said, “The sanitation workers have started cleaning up the main roads and market areas. A large quantity of garbage has piled up across east Delhi over the last 28 days so we expect that it will take them at least a week to clear the mess from the internal roads.”