VIJAYAWADA: Even though the city is stinking with mounting garbage following the indefinite strike by sanitation workers, which entered the fifth day on Monday, the public health department of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) is maintaining that they are taking alternative measures to improve situation by deploying machinery and private workers.
Municipal Commissioner J Nivas inspected the vehicle depot at Hanumanpet and enquired with the officials about the machinery and vehicles available for segregating the garbage piled up on city roads. He instructed the officials concerned to deploy regular sanitation employees of VMC for segregating household waste during night time keeping in view their safety.
Vehicle depot executive engineer SS Prasad informed Nivas that 13 dumper pacers, two hookloaders, two tractors, nine big tipper lorries, nine medium tipper lorries, 26 small compactors and 10 big compactors are available to shift household waste to the dumping yard. The civic body chief directed Prasad to allow drivers to work overtime and to pay wages accordingly. Instructions were also given to the officials to monitor regularly the status of dumperbins through CCTV cameras and deploy enough number of vehicles for shifting the garbage on a war footing.
Speaking to TNIE, Municipal Employees Union State leader M David said that there were no signs from the State government to hold talks with the municipal employees. “We will intensify our agitation by resorting to begging on Tuesday to press for the genuine demands of the union including scrapping of GO No 279, minimum salary of `18,000 per month and regularisation of contract and outsourcing employees,’’ he asserted.