Sanitation Crisis in Chandigarh as Collectors Protest Over Wages

by The_unmuteenglish

Chandigarh, 22 December 2024: Chandigarh faced a sanitation crisis on Saturday as door-to-door garbage collectors went on strike, leaving trash piles to accumulate on streets and creating significant public health concerns.

The strike, which started at 8 am at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Sector 25, came as the workers voiced their demand for higher wages, citing an increase in their workload. With Sunday being a non-working day, the situation was expected to worsen, leaving residents burdened with uncollected garbage.

Dharamvir Rana, president of the door-to-door garbage collection union, said the workers’ responsibilities had expanded over the past year to include commercial areas, but their salaries remained unchanged.

“According to the MoU with the Municipal Corporation (MC), we were initially tasked with garbage collection from residential areas. But last year, the scope of work was increased to include commercial zones, without any salary revision,” said Rana.

“We also demand a revised MoU with staff-friendly provisions, which has been pending for a long time. The lack of updated terms and fair compensation has made our working conditions unsustainable.”

In response, Municipal Commissioner Amit Kumar scheduled a meeting with the workers for December 26 to address their concerns.

Rana warned, however, that if the meeting does not yield results, the workers may continue their strike. “If no solution is found, we will be forced to strike again, and the administration will be held responsible for the consequences,” he added.

The MC launched systematic door-to-door garbage collection services in 2020, serving 2,41,164 households in the city.

Over time, the waste collection system expanded to segregate dry waste, wet waste, hazardous waste, and plastic waste. In 2021, the MC signed an MoU with 926 individual collectors, which has been extended several times as terms were reviewed.

A new MoU is currently being drafted to address the workers’ concerns and establish fair compensation.

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