BHOPAL: As families undertook a massive clean-up of their homes on Dhanteras, the first day of the five-day Diwali festival, heaps of garbage piled up across Bhopal and other parts of Madhya Pradesh due to an ongoing indefinite statewide strike by sanitation workers.
Ahead of Diwali, the Madhya Pradesh capital is choking on its own waste, with a strike by municipal safai (sanitation) workers reportedly leaving over 2,500 tonnes of garbage uncollected in three days. The stench has spread to the city's posh and high-security areas as well as its busiest markets.
Minister of State Krishna Gaur met the striking sanitation workers on Friday in an attempt to break the deadlock. However, the workers insisted that they would call off the strike only after meeting Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, with a meeting likely to take place later tonight. Gaur, who is also a local BJP MLA, held talks with the workers, raising hopes that the strike could end by tonight or Saturday morning.
Residents out for Dhanteras shopping on Friday navigated their way past overflowing bins and heaps of garbage along the roads, from Char Imli, where ministers and senior IAS and IPS officers live, to the lanes around the Mantralaya and Vallabh Bhavan. Garbage was also visible near the Hanuman and Sai temples in Char Imli and along Atal Path, which hosted a BJP rally only two days ago. On Kolar Road, waste has piled for three days on the central verge of the six-lane stretch opposite the guest house. Residents of Budhwara market reported animal carcasses lying on the road.
At a busy intersection in Bhopal’s Awadhpuri area, home to one of the city's most popular eateries, stray dogs and cattle were seen scavenging for food scraps from discarded polythene bags. Pedestrians and two-wheeler riders struggled to navigate the stretch, with garbage scattered across the road and packs of stray dogs fighting over the waste.
According to local news reports, Bhopal generates around 800-850 tonnes of waste daily. More than 400 collection vehicles, which normally make two to three trips a day to the city’s 17 garbage transfer stations, are parked idle. With bins full and no pickup, some residents have begun burning garbage, adding smoke to the problem. But the Municipal Corporation has so far made no alternative arrangements.
The strike intensified on Friday when workers reportedly stopped water tanker supply. Poorer settlements felt the shortage first. The officials, however, claimed that no major crisis has emerged across the city’s 2.30 lakh tap connections because valves were opened in several areas.
The sanitation workers have four prominent demands: a pay hike, compassionate appointments, regularisation of jobs and an end to the contract system. The major among them is raising the monthly wage from Rs 10,500 to Rs 25,000.
Vasi Sultan, state secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Safai Mazdoor Trade Union, said the municipal body’s 25-day-wage workers, whom he put at about 7,000, cannot run a household on Rs 10,500. Maganlal Jhanjhot, the union’s state president, said the stir would not be limited to sanitation staff. Computer operators, clerks and staff from the water, fire, building permission, encroachment, electrical, mechanical, horticulture and planning departments are also out, and he warned of a “fight to the finish”. The agitating staff claim over one lakh workers are protesting across Madhya Pradesh. Municipal sources say around 6,000 employees outside sanitation have joined in Bhopal.
The agitation began with a sit-in at Shahjahan Park on November 3. After no senior official turned up to receive their memorandum, the workers blocked traffic at Jahangirabad Square. Subsequent talks with Sanjay Dubey, the state's additional chief secretary for urban development and housing, reportedly failed to break the deadlock. Sanitation work came to a halt on November 4 and has remained suspended since.
Bhopal is not the only city grappling with heaps of uncollected garbage, with several other parts of Madhya Pradesh also reportedly affected by the strike. Around 350 Shivpuri Municipal Council employees are on strike in northern Madhya Pradesh, leaving waste piling up in local markets. In Sironj town of Vidisha district, BJP MLA Umakant Sharma took up sweeping duties for around two hours on Wednesday night and again on Thursday.
In Khilchipur town of Rajgarh district, tailor Dinesh Kumar Namdev, known as Pappu, shut his shop on Thursday and spent about 90 minutes clearing garbage from Subhash Chowk to Sarafa Bazaar with a broom and handcart, dumping it outside town.
Expressing hope that the crisis would be resolved soon, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, responding to questions from journalists in Bhopal on Friday about the strike and its impact, said, “Sabki chinta ki ja rahi hai” (Everyone's concerns are being taken into account) and “Samasyon ka samadhan hoga” (Problems will be resolved soon). He added that the government was actively considering the matter in the interest of all parties.
