HYDERABAD: Tension prevailed at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Head Office on Friday as Swachh Auto workers protested against the proposed privatisation of door-to-door garbage collection.
The workers alleged that the government planned to hand over garbage collection to private agencies, threatening their livelihoods. They demanded withdrawal of the proposal and an assurance that the existing system would continue.
Tension escalated when protesters tried to enter the GHMC office and were stopped by police, leading to jostling. Telangana Swachh Auto Tipper and Rickshaw Workers Union president K Gopal Naik reportedly fainted and was shifted to a hospital.
Naik alleged that workers had been under mental distress since the proposal was introduced and claimed that 10 workers had died in the past month, while four others were undergoing treatment.
He appealed to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to intervene and said around 50,000 families, or nearly one lakh people, depended on the sanitation work.
The workers warned that their agitation would continue until the government withdrew the proposal and addressed their demands.