The heaps of garbage have now reached the adjacent roads causing commuters a lot of difficulty while passing by. The unattended garbage is also causing a lot of stench. People are having tough time negotiating the foul smell.
As the sanitation workers continue their strike over proper working conditions and timely remunerations, the filth across garbage dumping spaces has worsened all across Gurgaon.
The heaps of garbage have now reached the adjacent roads causing commuters a lot of difficulty while passing by. The unattended garbage is also causing a lot of stench. People are having tough time negotiating the foul smell.
People have begun voicing their protest against the piled garbage in their neighbourhoods. These areas include Sushant Lok-1, Sector-5, Palam Vihar, Sectors 21, 22, 23, Sadar Bazar, among others.
The traffic police were spotted cleaning the garbage from the roads at many places. But, it did not help as there are still many places where garbage is spilled on roads.
However, the situation is relatively better in the areas where garbage collection is outsourced to private companies or contractors.
More than 30,000 sanitation staffs have been involved in the strike in the city. The demands of workers include converting contractual staffs to permanent, coverage under Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) and provident fund and regular medical check-ups.
Although MCG officials have claimed that they enough staffs to conduct smooth pick-up of garbage in the city, the situation at the ground level is very different. The residents of Sector-12 have complained that the garbage has not been collected from their doors since the workers strike begun.
“Due to the strike called by the MCG workers’ union, piles of waste are being left on the streets. Waste has piled up and even spilled on to roads in all areas within the MCG’s jurisdiction, hardly leaving any space for motorists to navigate. This has resulted in congestion, especially in Old Gurugram,” Jagdish Baweja, a road safety officer (RSO), said.
“In the absence of sanitation workers due to the ongoing strike, we have launched an 80-hour special drive to clear waste from the streets. We have set up special teams to ensure that waste is not left unattended on the streets,” Yashpal Yadav, commissioner, MCG, said.
The MCG commissioner has said that the demands of striking sanitation workers will be addressed by May 22.
“We are exploited by the contractor. We are neither paid on time and nor are we provided with necessary gear to ensure our safety at work. We are not even given uniforms, which we are supposed to get as part of the contract. Senior officials are aware of our pitiable working conditions and yet, nothing is done,” Ram Kumar, one of the striking sanitation workers, said.
