All the efforts by the East Delhi municipal corporation to end the strike by its sanitation workers seem to be going in vain. As the strike still continues, garbage has been piling up on the streets and is proving to be a major hassle for residents.
Though the Delhi High Court (HC) has asked the three municipal corporations to ensure that all the garbage is cleared from the city within two days, going by the current scenario, it would be difficult for the civic agency to comply with the order.
Heaps of garbage can be found dumped in areas like Krishna Nagar, Azad Nagar and Laxmi Nagar.
“The stink emanating from all that garbage has made it difficult for us to even walk in the area. The corporation should understand the sensitivity of the issue and address it. The piled-up garbage can spread so many diseases and will give rise to pests,” said BS Vohra, president of east Delhi RWAs Joint Front Federation.
On the other hand, the East Delhi corporation claims that it has started complying with the court order and said whichever sanitation worker doesn’t work, his salary would be deducted. “Since last night, our tippers and manpower are on the job. 550 tonnes of garbage has been removed by making 127 trips of trucks. 10 trucks have been provided by the North MCD,” said Harsh Malhotra, Mayor, East Delhi Municipal Corporation. He further said auto tippers are plying on the route to collect garbage. Additional resources are also being arranged to lift the backlog of garbage.
“About 60 drivers from DTC have also been called as standby to keep the trucks moving, although all the East MCD truck drivers have resumed their duties. Besides, private truck companies are kept in loop for any exigency,” he added.
The striking sanitation workers, meanwhile, said there was no point going back to work if they don’t get their salaries.
“Most of the sanitation workers are determined to get back to work only after they are paid their dues,” said Rajender Mewati, general secretary of United Front of MCD Employees Associations.
[“source-businesstoday”]
