Chandigarh: The Haryana government has warned the protesting sanitation workers to resume their duties by Saturday, or else legal and departmental action will be taken against them.
The workers have been on strike since August 6 in support of their various demands, including securing permanent employment, with heaps of garbage piled up at various places.
The government has directed all municipal corporation commissioners and district municipal commissioners to inform the striking employees under their jurisdiction to report to their duties by September 5, saying that they have been absent without notice or permission.
In a letter issued by the Urban Local Bodies Department on Wednesday, the higher officials were reminded that sanitation is an essential service and maintaining it is the primary responsibility and duty of municipal bodies. “As per the provisions of the Haryana Municipal Act, 1973, sanitation also falls under the purview of the Haryana Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1974,” it said.
The letter claimed that protesting employees have not only been preventing other workers from performing their duties but also damaging sanitation equipment and machinery.
There have been allegations that protesting workers have been preventing the authorities from lifting heaps of garbage across the state, including Hisar, Bahadurgarh and Rohtak and even scuffled with the police.
“FIRs have also been registered against some of the striking employees in this connection," the letter said.
It pointed out that the actions of the workers are disrupting sanitation work, especially during the season of flu and other viral infections, aggravating the risk of spreading diseases.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini had recently informed the state assembly that the government was continuously working to resolve the issues concerning sanitation workers and had already accepted 12 of their demands.
He said that since the regularisation of the services demand involves several legal aspects, it was being examined from a legal perspective. Amid the ongoing strike, the opposition stepped up its attack on the BJP government, with Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda accusing Saini of being indifferent to the protesters’ demands.
Congress legislator Geeta Bhukkal said the sanitation workers have been facing police action at many places. INLD MLA Aditya Devi Lal accused the BJP government of subjecting the sanitation workers to 'injustice and oppression'.
On Sept 1, Congress MLAs had also raised the issue during the monsoon session of the Assembly, demanding that the government accept their demands and resolve the issue.
