BHOPAL: The indefinite strike by sanitation workers of local bodies across several parts of Madhya Pradesh, which had left Bhopal choking on its own waste, ended on Friday evening after three days, following the intervention of Minister of State and BJP MLA Krishna Gaur.
The strike began on November 4. According to sources, the protesting sanitation workers are likely to meet Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav later on Friday.
The development is expected to bring relief to residents of Bhopal, the Madhya Pradesh capital often described as the country's cleanest state capital.
The strike had severely affected the city's cleanliness ahead of Diwali. While families were engaged in cleaning their homes on Dhanteras, the official first day of the five-day Diwali festival period, heaps of garbage were visible across Bhopal and several other parts of Madhya Pradesh.
Ahead of Diwali, the state capital was choking on its own waste. The strike by municipal sanitation workers reportedly left more than 2,500 tonnes of garbage uncollected over three days. The stench had reached even the city's most protected and posh neighbourhoods, as well as its busiest markets.
Residents heading out for Dhanteras shopping on Friday had to make their way past overflowing bins and roadside garbage heaps, from Char Imli, where ministers and senior IAS and IPS officers reside, 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 had hosted a BJP rally just two days earlier. On Kolar Road, waste had accumulated for three days along the central verge of the six-lane stretch opposite the guest house. Residents of Budhwara market also reported animal carcasses lying on the road.
At a busy crossing in the Awadhpuri area, which is home to one of the city's most popular eateries, stray dogs competed with stray cattle to feed on food leftovers from polythene bags. Pedestrians and two-wheeler riders struggled to navigate the road, where garbage was scattered all around, and packs of stray dogs were fighting over the waste.
According to local media reports, Bhopal generates around 800-850 tonnes of waste every day. More than 400 garbage collection vehicles, which normally make two to three trips daily to the city's 17 garbage transfer stations, remained idle. With bins overflowing and no waste collection, some residents reportedly began burning rubbish, adding smoke to the problem. However, the Municipal Corporation had so far made no alternative arrangements.
The strike widened on Friday when workers reportedly stopped the supply of water tankers. Poorer settlements were the first to feel the shortage. Officials, however, claimed that no major crisis had emerged across the city's 2.30 lakh tap connections, as valves had been opened in several areas.
The sanitation workers have four major demands: a pay hike, compassionate appointments, regularisation of jobs and an end to the contract system. Their principal demand is an increase in monthly wages from Rs 10,500 to Rs 25,000.
Vasi Sultan, state secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Safai Mazdoor Trade Union, said workers employed on a 25-day wage basis by the municipal body, whom he estimated at around 7,000, could not run a household on Rs 10,500 a month.
Maganlal Jhanjhot, the union's state president, said the agitation was not limited to sanitation workers. Computer operators, clerks and employees from the water, fire, building permission, encroachment, electrical, mechanical, horticulture and planning departments had also joined the strike. He warned of a “fight to the finish”.
The protesting employees claimed that more than one lakh workers were participating in the agitation across Madhya Pradesh. Municipal sources said around 6,000 employees from departments other than sanitation had joined the strike in Bhopal.
The agitation began with a sit-in at Shahjahan Park on November 3. Workers said no senior official had come forward to receive their memorandum, following which they blocked traffic at Jahangirabad Square. Subsequent talks with Sanjay Dubey, the state's Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development and Housing), reportedly ended without any resolution. Cleaning operations stopped on November 4 and had not resumed since.
However, Bhopal was not the only city affected by the strike, with heaps of uncleared garbage reported from several other parts of the state.
Around 350 employees of the Shivpuri Municipal Council in northern Madhya Pradesh were on strike, resulting in garbage piling up in local markets. In Sironj town of Vidisha district in central Madhya Pradesh, local BJP MLA Umakant Sharma swept the streets for around two hours on Wednesday night and again on Thursday.
In Khilchipur town of Rajgarh district, tailor Dinesh Kumar Namdev, popularly known as Pappu, shut his shop on Thursday and spent around 90 minutes clearing garbage from Subhash Chowk to Sarafa Bazaar using a broom and handcart. He subsequently dumped the collected waste outside the town.
