Shweta Kamat
shweta@herald-goa.com
Despite going on strike to demand an increase in daily wages and receiving no response from the civic body, the 300-odd workers have not left the city dirty. Garbage collection is going on smoothly, with agitating workers ensuring that people don’t suffer in their internal conflict with the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP).
The CCP Employees Union has served a 21-day notice of strike to the corporation over the unfulfilled demands of the workers, warning that if these demands are not met, the workers will proceed on an indefinite strike. CCP has refused to increase the daily wages of the workers as per their demand of INR 499 per day.
Unlike in the past, wherein heaps of garbage were piled up as a result of workers’ protest and their refusal to work, this time the city witnessed a different picture with door-to-door garbage collection and waste collection in other areas being undertaken on a regular basis. The reason could be the fear of being sacked from their duty permanently, as CCP had hinted at outsourcing garbage collection. “The garbage collection is going on smoothly. Workers are engaged in garbage collection. They have ensured that the city remains clean,” CCP commissioner Sanjit Rodrigues said. “We had decided that if the city is taken to task over the garbage collection work by the workers, then we would have to put a new mechanism in place,” Rodrigues said adding that outsourcing the work was the option thought about. “But good sense has prevailed and everything is going smoothly,” he noted.
When contacted, Union leader Adv Ajitsingh Rane said, “We have not been impatient despite CCP authorities harassing and torturing the workers”.
