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Sanitary staff strike declared illegal

Staff Reporter

The employees are, however, not ready to call off their agitation.

BERHAMPUR: The continuing strike by sanitary workers and employees of Berhampur municipality was declared illegal by the municipal administration on Wednesday. These employees have been on indefinite strike since Feb 7.

Through a notice, the municipal administration ordered the striking employees to join work within 24 hours. Otherwise the municipal administration would presume the employees are no more interested in their job and appropriate action would be taken against them.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, chairperson of the municipality, Sulochana Swain said due to the imposition of code of conduct for the panchayat polls it was not possible for the municipality to declare any thing regarding the change of salary structure of employees as per the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, which is the main demand of striking employees.

She admitted that the city had turned into a stinking zone due to more than 1500 tonnes of garbage dumped inside it following the strike.

According to her the striking employees should consider the problems caused to general public by their strike and call it off.

Loss of revenue

The State Government's nominee in the municipal council, Duryodhan Swain said the municipality had lost revenue of Rs. 25 lakhs due to non-collection of cess and taxes. He said the council would arrange alternative measures to clean up the city if the employees continued their strike.

But the striking employees are not ready to call off their strike despite the notice of the municipal administration. General secretary of the municipal employees' union, Anil Kumar Nayak said they would not join duty on Thursday despite the notice. They plan to organise a public meeting on Thursday evening to garner public support for their agitation.

They have also decided to thwart any attempt by the municipal council to lift the garbage from the city through private means.

All tractors used to transport garbage are now parked inside the municipality campus. The striking employees are not ready to let any of these vehicles go out of the campus.

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