The GHMC sanitary contract workers on Wednesday evening temporarily suspended their five-day strike and resumed garbage collection and sweeping operations following assurances from the government to hike wages.
GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar said that the monthly wages of contract workers, which was Rs. 6,700, will now be close to Rs. 11,000 that also includes Provident Fund (PF) and Employees State Insurance (ESI) medical scheme components.
The Commissioner also pointed out that the accident policy for GHMC truck drivers will now be for Rs. 10 lakh while for others workers it is Rs. 5 lakh. Nearly 25,000 contract workers including those in the entomology and transport wings went on strike from Friday, January 7 demanding among others, a hike in their wages from Rs. 6,700 to Rs.16,700.
“Our workers will resume their work immediately. However, at present, we have temporarily suspended the strike and will wait for the government to implement their assurances,” union representatives said.
It would take at least a minimum of four to five days of hard work to clear the backlog of garbage that has piled up in the last five days, said Additional Commissioner (Health & Sanitation) L. Vandan Kumar. “There is nearly 10,000 metric tonnes (MT) of garbage that has remained unclaimed in Hyderabad and has to be lifted immediately. It will take a few days for the normalcy to be restored,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the contract workers held protests, raised slogans and took out a huge rally inside the GHMC head office before they were picked up by the police.
