Madurai stinks as conservancy workers strike continues

The non-clearance of garbage from dwellings and streets for the fifth consecutive day due to the strike by conservancy workers resulted in an unpleasant smell in the air across the 100 Wards of Madurai Corporation. In many pockets, especially in thickly populated areas, it was unbearable as people had strewn the waste on the narrow roads.
The last time the garbage was lifted from the five zones was on October 2 in the city. On October 6, some 500 workers were deployed to lift the waste from select streets, especially around the business areas. The rest of the wards/streets were left in the lurch.
When the government has been appealing to keep the environment clean, such piled-up garbage, which remained open on the roads, not only posed an unhygienic atmosphere, but also led to a rise in dengue-like fever and other communicable diseases.
The conservancy workers have not been attending work, demanding that the civic body implement their demands, which include the removal of the private agency outsourced to clear the garbage from the city wards.
The CITU district secretary, Balasubramanian, said that the Corporation officials were hand in glove with the private agency, which has been anti-labour. “When we have been demanding the termination of the agency’s contract, the officials seem to be nonchalant….” he claimed.
For a population of approximately two million in Madurai city, the conservancy workers’ strength stood at a meagre 4,000. “We have been seeking the civic body to double the number to 8,000, but it has fallen on deaf ears”, he charged.
A senior official from the Corporation said that the private agency’s contract ends on November 15. The Directorate of Municipal Administration has also been briefed about the demands raised by the workers. Going on strike is not a solution. Whenever they return to work, they have to clear the mounting waste. The people are suffering, he added.