BHUBANESWAR: Sanitation workers in the city staged a protest accusing Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) of adopting ‘unfair labour practices’ and poor wage to them. The workers under the banner of Bhubaneswar Mahanagar Nigar Workers Union staged demonstration and tried to march towards Naveen Niwas to lodge their grievance to the chief minister.
CITU leaders also supported the protest. Union vice-president Satyanand Behera alleged that hundreds of sanitation workers engaged by the BMC on Casual Labour Roll (CLR), Daily Labour Roll (DLR) and outsourcing basis through private agencies are mostly underpaid and don’t even have basic safety gears. Around 686 workers are working on CLR basis, while 350 workers have been engaged on DLR basis. Besides around 3,000 workers have been engaged through private sanitation agencies.
These workers are neither paid as per the rate fixed by the government, nor they are getting retirement benefits despite working as sanitation workers for decades. The civic body is not even clearing the arrears of many, Behera alleged.