E Delhi continues to stink under piles of waste, strike still on

With the strike of sanitation workers (safai karmis) of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) entering the fourth day, serious garbage disposal and health crisis has been triggered in Trans-Yamuna region of the national Capital. The workers, despite announcement of additional funds by the Delhi government to pay their salaries, reportedly halted civic services. The agitated staff, in order to mark their protest, dumped heaps of garbage in various nook and corner resulting in traffic chaos everywhere. With dumping of garbage, massive protests broke out at various EDMC and Councillor offices throughout the day on Monday.

Early morning, hundreds of agitated workers took out a protest march from Gandhi Nagar and other areas to draw attention to their demands. The protest march by the workers threw traffic out of gear in an around the areas. Protests by sanitation workers in different parts of East Delhi also created chaos on the roads as garbage was dumped by scores of protestors even as sanitation services by the civic bodies continued to suffer. The protestors claimed to intensify to target offices and residences of Councillors, MLAs and other stakeholders more in the coming days to raise their voice against injustice done to them.

“We urge both the Delhi government and the Central government to find a solution to end the strike. Thousands of people are suffering due to our strike which has been forced on us due to lack of any permanent solution to the issue of payment of salaries and other dues in time. Hence, the need of the hour is that all the stakeholders must arrive at a solution instead of indulging in politics over the issue. The strike will only intensify in the coming days if they fail to meet our demands,” said hordes of irked sanitation workers.

Areas like Vinod Nagar, Patparganj, Shahdara, Geeta Colony, Khajuri, Bhajanpura and Laxmi Nagar were stinking badly as only garbage piles could be seen on the roads. Moreover, places like EDMC’s headquarters and all zonal offices faced similar situations. “It is difficult to even pass by these roads. The roads are stinking so bad that we fear we might catch some infection due to the presence of garbage,” said Naveen Sharma, a resident living in Mandawli area. “It has been two-three months that the workers have not received their salaries and other dues. Despite repeated requests, our demands have gone unheard. Hence, we have staged a protest here. We will call off work for an indefinite period if our demands are not met. Although agencies claim to have released salaries but no money has been credited to our accounts. We will call off our strike only when all demands are fulfilled as release of salary alone will not solve our purpose,” Sanjay Gehlot, president of Delhi Mazdoor Vikas Sanyukta Morcha said.