MC employees go on indefinite strike, dump garbage on roads

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 5

Jammu today resembled a dumping ground as striking municipal workers littered streets with garbage after starting their indefinite strike.

They are demanding reorganisation of the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) and regularisation of service of the contractual safai karamcharis.

The resultant stink across the city made life miserable for residents and commuters and gave a unpleasant look to the city.

Hundreds of safai karamcharis along with Class IV employees of the Municipal Corporation held a demonstration in different parts of the city against the government and Municipal Corporation alleging that their demands are deliberately being ignored.

Apart from regularisation of service in the Municipal Corporation, they are demanding increase in salary of contractual workers engaged by the corporation and constitution of the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) for in charge sanitary supervisors working in the department for the last many years. They are also demanding ending the awarding of sanitation contracts to NGOs which have been engaged by the JMC during the last 10 years.

“We are being given a raw deal, despite the fact that our union maintains the sanitation of the city with minimum of resources and modern gadgets. Our families are living in very harsh conditions, as the services of majority of us are not being regularised,” said Rinku Gill, president, Civic Safaikaramchari Union (CSU).

The issue of municipal workers is quite old as they feel discriminated despite the fact that Jammu city is dependent on a few hundred regular staff members to keep the city clean and lift nearly 300 tonnes of solid waste generated daily by its 15 lakh inhabitants.

Before the formation of the JMC in 2005, there were 23 wards, but as the city expanded the government decided to create 48 new wards covering the newly established colonies which came up during the past two decades. Now there are 71 municipal wards under the municipal limits.

Safai karamcharis have warned of intensifying their agitation if the government fails to redress their grievances.