Approximately 1,600 employees engaged in door-to-door rubbish collection and transport to Bhandewadi Dumping Yard left about 905 metric tons (MT) of a total of 1,255 MT in households and streets on Friday. Bhartiya Kamgar Sena extended the strike call, which was a result of delays in paying workers’ salaries by two operators — AG Enviro and BVG India — to Saturday. It will now rely on the workers whether to resume work or continue the strike, even as the operators have already paid their salaries.The two operators have taken over the work of Kanak Resources Management Ltd since 16 November. According to the unions, Kanak did not pay workers a salary of 15 days. New operators were supposed to pay workers wages by 7 December, but they also failed to do so. Approximately 800 workers from zones 1 to 5 working with AG Environ made a flash strike from the morning of Friday morning. Zone 6-10 staff under the BVG India started their work as usual. When they learned to strike in Zone 1-5, they also went on strike. The NMC sources told TOI that only 350 MT (27.8%) of the garbage could be transported to Bhandewadi. Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Bangar said the garbage collection and transport will start from 1 pm and will be normalized from Saturday. “The two operators have been warned of any such problems in the future. It is their responsibility to ensure that salaries are paid on time.NMC should do its best to release payments every month, but operators should not find reasons for delays in NMC payments, “he said. Additional municipal commissioner Ram Joshi said that only 40% of the garbage collection and transport had been affected. “We instructed the operators to continue to collect and transport until night,” he said.The NMC did not invoke the Authority. Sometimes, I guess, the last 15 days, sufficient notice of the employees and unions notices has not been taken. Congressman Praful Gudadhe said the workers were right to go on strike. Workers are low and wages are important to them. They can not afford daily expenses if payments are postponed. They haven’t earned anything in the last two months.” After meeting with Bangar, union leader Suresh Talwekar said that the strike will begin on Saturday as employees have not earned the minimum wage. “Workers work in a filthy state and face serious health problems. They’re keeping the city clean. They should receive salaries and incentives on or before the 7th of each month, “he said.Bangar said the pay-related misunderstanding has been resolved. “Operators paid staff wages of 15 days. The salary for December is due to be paid in January. Workers wrongly believed it was a month’s salary that we made clear to them, “he said. Bangar’s refused strike will start on Saturday. “The problem has come to an end,” he said. Joshi said, “Some workers didn’t get a pay check on Friday because they couldn’t open the accounts. We told the operators to pay them by check on Saturday,” he said. Garbage could be seen dumped in huge quantities in various locations throughout the region. Citizens and business businesses could be seen dumping garbage at these sites because the collection did not take place in the morning.
