CHENNAI: Garbage continues to pile up in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar and Royapuram zones as the seventh round of talks between sanitary workers protesting privatisation and the Greater Chennai Corporation failed on Sunday, the 10th consecutive day of their strike.
While the civic body has announced that CESPL has already taken over waste management from the city corporation, waste was found overflowing from bins or dumped at street corners in areas such as Periamet, Choolai, Broadway, Washermenpet, and Vepery High Road.
Residents said door-to-door collection has been suspended for over a week, forcing them to dump waste on the streets or walk to the already overflowing bins. Even when the tipper lorries arrive, locals allege that all the bins are not emptied
“For more than a week, no one has collected garbage from our houses, so we dump it on the streets, and still no one clears it,” said an 84-year-old resident of Salai Street, Choolai.
As the union members and workers refused to relocate their protest despite requests from officials, the civic body has now indicated that no further negotiations will be held, said Uzhaippor Urimai Iyakkam president K Bharathi. He said the workers will continue to protest outside the Ripon Buildings and are prepared to face police action.
Bharathi accused the corporation officials of “spreading false information” by claiming that 25% of protesting workers have returned to duty. “Those working now in these zones are staff under the contracting firm, not the protesting workers,” he said.
Even during the rains on Sunday, the workers continued their protest outside the Ripon Buildings for the 10th consecutive day.
A corporation official said the door-to-door collection by the newly hired CESPL workers is yet to start due to delay in deploying new battery-operated vehicles. “For now, they are only sweeping roadsides,” the official said, adding that trucks are sent at night to clear bins.
“Most interior street corners are in a complete mess,” said Ajas A (26), a shopkeeper from Kumarapa Street, Vepery High Road. “GCC cleared it once after my complaint last week, but after a few days, waste piled up again. Only regular door-to-door collection will solve this problem.”
On Geils Street in Broadway, residents reported heavy mosquito breeding and stench from days-old uncleared waste. In Washermenpet, Ramky workers swept main roads but confirmed door-to-door collection had not begun.
Bharathi stressed that the union’s demands go beyond wages, calling for permanent jobs. “We fought multiple times in court over many years to raise the minimum wages for sanitary workers from `391 to `753 per day. The pay will be reduced under private contractors,” he said.
Talks between minister P K Sekarbabu, mayor R Priya, GCC officials and the labour rights union failed to make any headway.
CPM state general secretary P Shanmugam, who met protesters on Sunday, said that outsourcing strips workers of their rights and is unacceptable. “We stood (with protesters) during the Samsung workers’ protest and will do the same for sanitary workers. The government must act to meet their reasonable demands,” he said.
Responding to Sekarbabu’s claim that the DMK never promised regularisation in its manifesto, Shanmugam said, “It’s not necessary to act only on poll promises; reasonable demands can be implemented anytime.”