Staff on strike, south Delhi's turn to dodge garbage piles

NEW DELHI: Even as sanitation workers in east Delhi called off their strike on Wednesday, the focus of their counterparts in other corporations has now shifted to south and north Delhi.
While garbage piles are already present on north Delhi roads, south residents will have to prepare to bear the brunt of this form of protest by safai karamcharis.
Though South Corporation has been paying its staff salaries, sanitation workers are now demanding arrears and regularization. "All sanitation unions will meet at Rajghat on Thursday and march to the Civic Centre to demand arrears, regularization of workers and cashless mediclaim scheme. East Corporation has agreed to these, but North and South corporations aren't considering them," said Rajinder Mewati, president, Akhil Bhartiya Safai Mazdoor Union. The unions held a meeting with commissioners of North and South corporations to tell them that their demands aren't given importance.
"From Thursday, garbage will be lifted and dumped on the arterial roads in north and south Delhi. We were promised regularization and increments by the BJP leadership, but it never happened," said Mewati.
Protests continued in north Delhi resulting in traffic jams. To minimize problems to commuters and residents, municipal corporations have undertaken cleaning of the streets at night. For the past four nights, garbage from dhalaos and roads was picked up and dumped at landfill sites. "Pending salaries aside, safai karamcharis also want regularization, increments and mediclaim schemes," said PK Gupta, commissioner, North Delhi Municipal Corporation.
Meanwhile, with the issue resolved in east Delhi, safai karamcharis will work on Thursday, which is a holiday, to clear the backlog. "Most safai karamcharis resumed work on Wednesday. Machines were used to clean the 174 dhalaos and 3,300 metric tonnes of garbage was lifted by afternoon," said Amit Yadav, commissioner, East Corporation.
In another development, National Green Tribunal directed the Delhi government and corporation employees to ensure that no waste is thrown on city roads, saying "it is bound %to cause serious health hazards and adverse environmental impacts".