The collective strike of sanitation workers, which has been going on for the last three days in Triveniganj Municipal Council area, turned into a violent movement on Sunday when the Municipal Council and the sanitation agency, instead of finding a solution through talks, adopted an adamant stance and tried to forcibly collect the garbage. As soon as the garbage was being loaded into tractors by bringing in outside laborers under the supervision of the police force, the striking sanitation workers and their families got angry after receiving this news. Within no time, angry women and children started creating ruckus and dumped all the garbage loaded on tractors on the middle of the road (NH-327E). During this period, an atmosphere of chaos prevailed in the area for some time.
Garbage scattered in front of police, worker chased away
According to eyewitnesses, on Sunday, the sanitation agency had employed some outside laborers to collect garbage accumulated on the city roads in the presence of police officers and police force. As soon as they got wind of this, the striking sanitation workers reached the spot. Seeing the fierce attitude of the agitators and the huge anger of their family members, even the police force was surprised. During this, the protesters also chased away the so-called ‘Bada Babu’ of the cleaning agency from the spot. Later, the police officers pacified the matter with a lot of effort and persuasion, but by then the road was again covered with garbage. The agitating sanitation workers allege that they are being treated inhumanely by the sanitation contractor. They work hard for 30 days of the month, but 5 to 6 days’ salary is arbitrarily deducted. Due to non-payment of dues for months, a situation of starvation has arisen in our homes.
The workers also alleged that when they talk about their rights, the cleaning agency officials directly threaten them with removal from work.
Anger increased due to the stubborn attitude of the council. There is huge resentment among the striking employees against the cleaning agency as well as the executive officer of the city council. The workers say that the city’s sanitation system has been at a standstill for so many days and the poor laborers are yearning for every grain, but the city council officials are not even ready to talk, let alone show sympathy on their legitimate demands. Instead of breaking the deadlock through talks, efforts are being made to crush the movement with the help of police, which will not be tolerated at any cost.
Municipal Council Executive Officer Raj Sahil said that some new laborers have been hired by the agency, the striking laborers have been removed by the company, now the new laborers will do the cleaning, on Sunday the new laborers had gone for cleaning, which was opposed by the striking laborers, an application has also been given in the police station regarding this.
In this regard, Police Station President Rakesh Kumar said that the NP Sanitation Management has filed an application against 19 striking workers, which is being investigated.
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