Sanitation workers raise a stink over job outsourcing

HYDERABAD: Day one of the strike called by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation sanitation workers over regularisation of outsourced and contract jobs, saw garbage piles raise a stink at several places in the city on Thursday, including BK Guda, Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar, Ameerpet, Barkatpura and Moosapet, forcing people to cover their faces while commuting.
The only saving grace was the Swacch auto tippers operated by private contractors, carring out their duties as usual.
“As this was the first day, sanitation in the city has not yet been completely ruined. If the strike continues, the city will turn into a dumpyard,” said one protester.
Over 1,500 sanitation workers locked the main entrance to the GHMC head office, demanding regularisation of outsourced and nominal muster roll workers in GHMC, forcing officials to park their vehicles outside the premises.
Police were deployed to control agitating workers, and open the gates to allow employees to enter. Outsourced workers met GHMC commissioner Dana Kishore, but the meet failed to yield results as most of their demands were out of his purview.
U Gopal, president of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) affiliated Greater Hyderabad Municipal Employees Union (GHMEU), said they will take a call on Friday morning on extending the strike.
There are 22,000 outsourced sanitation workers in GHMC, including 2,200 entomology staff who carry out fogging under the direction of 125 entomology field assistants. The remaining are sweepers, under 948 sanitary field assistants (SFA).