Demanding 'Equal Pay for Equal Work', Hundreds of Sanitation Workers in Patna Continue Strike for 4th Day

Patna: Sanitation has come to a standstill in Bihar's capital city as the indefinite strike by hundreds of Patna Municipal Corporation's contractual fourth-grade employees, including safai karamcharis (sanitation workers), entered the fourth day on Thursday. The protesting workers have thrown heaps of garbage and dead animals at different places in Patna to express their anger against the government's apathy.

The striking sanitation workers have been demanding equal pay for equal work, regularisation of their jobs and reformation of the "anti-worker" policies of the corporation.

With nearly 7,000 sanitation workers, including 4,700 daily wagers and 2,300 outsourced workers, joining the indefinite strike on Monday (August 9), it has badly hit the cleaning works of the areas under the Corporation. Most places have turned dirty while also being waterlogged due to heavy rains in the last few days.

Patna Nagar Nigam Chaturth Vargiya Karamchari Sangh's leader Nand Kishor Das said that since Monday, hundreds of striking sanitation workers have been staging protests at the PMC's headquarters in the heart of Patna. "Sanitation workers have been forced to go on the indefinite strike and will continue till their demands are fulfilled," he said.

Das, general secretary of the Sangh, said that the government has been treating contractual sanitation workers differently from permanent workers despite both doing the same work. Currently, a contractual daily wager gets Rs 9,000, and an outsourced worker gets Rs 7,000. In comparison, a permanent worker is getting Rs 30,000 per month and other benefits. "Contractual sanitation workers should get at least Rs 18,000 per month as they have been working day and night to keep the city clean and clear the garbage," Das added.

The striking sanitation workers said that hundreds of them have been working for the last ten years on a daily-wage basis, hoping that the government will regularise their job. The sanitation workers said they were the real players behind the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, but the government left them in the lurch.

Meanwhile, to increase pressure on the striking workers, PMC authorities have appealed to the strikers to end their strike and join work on August 12 or face stern action.

PMC Commissioner, Himanshu Sharma, said that action would be taken against the striking workers if they did not return to work.

Earlier, an FIR was filed in Kotwali police station against leaders of the Sangh and striking sanitation workers for throwing garbage on the roads, hanging dead animals in the premises of the PMC headquarters, and allegedly instigating and creating problems in official work.

Urban Development Department (UDD) officials said that action would be initiated against the striking daily-wage sanitation workers for creating hurdles or hampering official work.

The Patna administration has also decided to provide police security to the cleaning workers hired by the PMC to clear tonnes of garbage amid apprehension of attack or assault by the striking workers. There are reports that angry workers on strike had chased away the administrative staff when they reached the office along with hired labourers to take auto-tippers for cleaning work on Wednesday night.

Since the first day of the strike, which began on Monday, large parts of Patna have been reeking of trash. Garbage and filth could be seen scattered and dumped all around, including posh localities. Door-to-door waste and garbage collection in residential localities, market places and offices has stopped as well.

However, Bihar Local Bodies Karamchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Morcha has threatened that sanitation workers of all urban local bodies across the state will go on strike on August 31 in support of their 12-point demands, including equal pay for equal work and regularisation of their jobs.

Last year, sanitation workers of the PMC protested against the state government's decision to remove them instead of regularising their jobs, which had been their demand for a long time. Despite repeated verbal assurances by top government officers, the Grade-4 daily wagers, including sanitation workers, went on strike twice and ended their protests following assurances. However, their demands have not been met.