Garbage piles up with no end in sight to stir

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 23

Members of the Sanitation Workers Union continued their strike for the second day today. They staged protest by placing a dead dog at the entrance to the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) office.

Due to the strike, garbage remained unattended to in the city for the second day.

Protesting workers demanded that the selection committee constituted for recruitment should be dissolved.

They said if their demands were not considered then after two days, sanitation workers from across the state would join the strike and workers in other cities would also stop work.

They gathered outside the MCB office this morning and staged a protest.

The union had planned to burn an effigy of Mayor Balwant Rai Nath and senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal but they suspended the plan.

The dog remained there till the protest went on.

Around 12.30 pm, Mayor Balwant Rai Nath reached the office but he made a backdoor entry.

Later, they had food outside the Mayor’s office and in the meeting hall of the MCB but left the leftover food and disposable plates on the premises.

Union president Gora Lal said councillors were unnecessarily interfering in the recruitment process as they want that five workers recommended by each councillor should be hired.

Gora Lal said the selection panel constituted by the Mayor was not acceptable to them.

He said they would intensify their protest from tomorrow by throwing garbage at the gate of the MCB office.

The protest would also be taken to the Mayor’s residence and they would dump garbage there, he added.

The ongoing strike has led to the piling up of garbage at various places. The threat of outbreak of diseases looms large if the strike continues for more days.