Bhopal generates 850 tonnes of waste every day. More than 400 vehicles are used for door-to-door garbage collection in the state capital, with each vehicle making two to three trips daily. (Credits: PTI)

Talks fail as sanitation workers continue indefinite strike across Madhya Pradesh

Nearly 2.5 lakh sanitation workers have stopped work across Madhya Pradesh ahead of Diwali. The indefinite strike has disrupted waste collection as unions seek regularisation and an end to outsourcing.

by · India Today

In Short

  • Talks with senior urban administration officials failed to break the deadlock
  • Union leaders plan to approach Chief Minister Mohan Yadav next
  • Bhopal generates 850 tonnes of waste on an average daily

More than two lakh sanitation workers across Madhya Pradesh have begun an indefinite strike ahead of Diwali, demanding an end to the outsourcing system and regularisation of their jobs, news agency Press Trust of India reported.

The strike has disrupted household garbage collection and the transport of waste to disposal facilities in Bhopal and several other cities over the past two days. Traders in several markets hired workers to clean their premises ahead of the festival.

Magan Jhanjhot, president of the Madhya Pradesh Akhil Bharatiya Safai Mazdoor Congress, told PTI that talks with Urban Administration Department Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Dubey to end the strike had failed on Wednesday.

"Our talks with the Urban Administration Department's Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Dubey to end the strike failed on Wednesday," Jhanjhot said.

He said the union would now approach Chief Minister Mohan Yadav with its demands in an effort to end the deadlock.

Jhanjhot claimed that nearly 2.5 lakh workers employed by civic bodies across the state had stopped work. He said they would call off the strike only after their demands were met.

Urban Administration and Housing Development Department Commissioner Sanket Bhondve and Bhopal Municipal Commissioner Ramprakash Ahirwar could not be contacted for a response.

Bhopal generates 850 tonnes of waste every day. More than 400 vehicles are used for door-to-door garbage collection in the state capital, with each vehicle making two to three trips daily.

Waste is collected at 17 garbage stations across the city and transported in capsule tankers to Adampur Chhawni. The indefinite strike has affected both household waste collection and its transportation to disposal facilities as workers continue to demand regularisation and the scrapping of outsourcing.

- Ends