Sanitation workers’ strike enters second month, Gurgaon’s garbage problem grows

At Suncity Township off Golf Course Road in Gurgaon's Sector 54, a 27-year-old sanitation worker quietly pushes one of three handcarts past rows of upscale houses. He is among the few of the more than a dozen contractual workers deployed to clear garbage at Suncity Township who still report for duty – though only every alternate day – braving the fallout of an indefinite strike by municipal sanitation workers and fire department staff that completed a month on Friday.

He keeps looking over his shoulder as he talks about the pressure on workers caught between striking colleagues and private contractors. “Some contractors, who are traitors, take advantage of the helplessness of sanitation workers,” he says.

At Suncity, Resident Welfare Association (RWA) chairperson Kusum Sharma said the association has appointed additional labourers to manage sweeping and garbage collection in the society. But still, many do not turn up, she added.

A few metres away, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) supervisor Akash (35) — 25 workers under him are supposed to clean garbage at Suncity — said only around eight have been reporting for work. “Some residents complain about litter around parks not being picked up quickly enough.

Workers on the ground fear action from the union if they are seen trying to break the strike,” he said. A short drive away in Sector 56, heaps of domestic waste have gathered on the roadside and vacant plots. Rakesh Kumar, an MCG supervisor overseeing the area, cited a change in the company that supplies contractors to MCG and delayed payments to describe what has crippled waste lifting across residential pockets.

“A recent change in contractors has made things worse. Some workers had to wait, and continue to wait, three months for their salaries, so they stopped coming,” he said. RWA president of Sector 56, Harish Yadav, said the situation had worsened over the past month.

"There are piles of garbage everywhere, especially near the markets. Residents are suffering," he added. Hundreds of sanitation workers and fire department staff gathered on Friday to mark 30 days of the agitation, even as garbage remained piled up in several residential areas.

Workers gathered under the Nagarpalika Karamchari Sangh and announced a protest march to the Civil Lines residence of Cabinet Minister and local MLA Rao Narbir Singh on Saturday. Condemning what they called “unlawful arrests” and intimidation of protesting workers, union leaders demanded the withdrawal of all suspension and termination orders.

Basant Kumar, Gurgaon unit president of the union, accused the Haryana government of giving conflicting figures on the number of demands accepted. “The Haryana government and its ministers are misleading the public. On social media and television channels, one minister claims 13 demands have been accepted, another says 14, and a third claims 12 have been met.

This is false rhetoric. Not a single written government notification or letter has been issued,” he said. Tensions escalated on September 1 after the Haryana government issued show-cause notices and suspension orders to some fire service personnel.

The union called it harassment and said the government should resolve the dispute through talks. While the workers questioned Urban Local Bodies Minister Vipul Goel over the continuing disruption of civic services, they criticised Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Krishan Bedi for not following through on his assurance of facilitating talks between the union and Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.

Demanding structural reforms, Basant Kumar asked, “Why sanitation and sewer workers continue to be hired on contract when other cadres have regular recruitment?” Speaking to The Indian Express, he said Gurgaon could not become “like Paris” if the condition of workers did not improve.

“What are the protesting workers asking for – wages better than the Rs 9,000-10,000 they are getting, and regularisation? The civic body can claim the city is clean by choosing some spots for photo ops, but we can assure you the sanitation situation is crumbling and diseases are spreading due to the administration’s apathy,” he said.