COIMBATORE: The permanent sanitary labourers working with the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) are irked as door-to-door garbage collection work that they have been handling so far has been given to temporary workers.
There are over 2,800 permanent and around 3,000 temporary sanitary working in CCMC. The permanent workers are mainly deployed in garbage collection and segregation works. The civic body outsourced garbage collection works to a private player. However, the move has received a lot of criticism from several quarters including the public, councillors and sanitary workers.
Recently, garbage collection and segregation duties were handed over to the temporary workers. The permanent workers are assigned with drainage cleaning, desilting, clearing clogged drains and other duties. Upset by this, permanent workers staged a protest at the CCMC head office on Monday.
A permanent worker, Koniyappan told TNIE, “All of a sudden, we are deployed in drainage cleaning and desilting duties. We have been looking after the garbage collection and clearing works for nearly 30 years now. What is the need to change our duties suddenly? “
The sanitary workers also demanded the civic body stop deducting `3,900 from their salary for the CPS (Contributory Pension Scheme) and provide them with the CPS amount that was deducted from their salary since 2007.
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC Commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran said, “The garbage collection works have been given to private players now. So they have been assigning the work. We shall assign other works like park maintenance and cleaning to the permanent workers.”