Brooms in hand, sanitation workers take to the streets in Karnal

The strike by sanitation workers of the Karnal Municipal Corporation (KMC) entered eighth day on Friday. Holding brooms in their hands, the workers took out a protest march from the KMC office to the Mini-Secretariat and vowed to strike work until their demands are met.

The Municipal Employees’ Union leaders said the protesters will march through the city’s main markets tomorrow to apprise residents of the reasons behind the strike and highlight the government “failure” in honouring its commitments.

Union’s Karnal unit president Raj Kumar, who led the protest, said, “The government’s indifference has forced us to take to the streets. We are fighting not just for ourselves, but for justice and dignity,” said Raj Kumar.

Their demands include regularisation of contractual staff, implementation of minimum wages and fulfillment of long pending demands of Fire Service employees. The sanitation workers allege that despite repeated assurances, the government has failed to take concrete steps to address their demands. “The government has failed to regularise the workers despite promises made on several occasions. The betrayal has left us with no option but to strike work,” Raj Kumar added.

“The government is intentionally creating hurdles. Instead of resolving issues, it is ignoring us. We are prepared for a long battle if a dialogue is not initiated with the state committee,” warned another union leader.

The protest witnessed participation from various employee associations, who appealed to the sanitation workers to remain united.

Meanwhile, the sanitation situation in the city has worsened due to the strike. Sweeping and lifting of garbage from roads has come to a complete halt, leaving piles of waste in various areas. Only door to door collection of garbage is being undertaken by a private agency, which remains the major support for the MC during the strike.