561 protesting garbage collectors detained by Chandigarh police, civic body remains firm

Cracking down on the protesting garbage collectors, the Chandigarh police on Tuesday detained 561 of them, hours after they gathered outside the Dadumajra dumping ground and stopped municipal corporation vehicles bringing the garbage there.

They were taken to police stations in Sectors 34 and 39 and later released in the evening after a warning against obstructing government work, said police.

Meanwhile, municipal commissioner KK Yadav cancelled leaves of all employees and pulled labour from enforcement, road and horticulture departments to depute them on waste collection.

Private waste collectors have been protesting since last week after the MC General House decided to take control of door-to-door garbage collection in order to streamline waste management in the city.

Later, addressing mediapersons, mayor Davesh Moudgil and MC chief KK Yadav made it clear that they would not pull back from the decision.

“We want to make Chandigarh the role model in waste management, but it would not be possible without reforms,” said the mayor.

While appealing to the waste collectors to join the civic body in its endeavour, Yadav said according to the centre’s waste management rules as well as the recent Supreme Court orders, it is the duty of the MC to make residents segregate dry and wet waste at household level, collect it from their houses and then process it effectively.

Yadav said when waste segregation was started last year, it was found that private collectors were not lifting it in a segregated manner, which demotivated residents. There were the problems of irregularity and overcharging too, he said.

Police to escort MC vehicles

The MC chief said 20 tractor-trailers were deployed to collect door-to-door waste from 12 sectors on Tuesday.

“On Wednesday, we will depute 40 vehicles. At least one vehicle accompanied by two helpers will go to every ward to collect waste from houses,” he said.

Meanwhile, apprehending attack from private collectors, police will provide security to the MC vehicles.

On Monday, six sanitation workers — who have extended support to garbage collectors — had stopped MC vehicles in Sector 8.

Police on Tuesday booked Monu, Sanjay, Kirti, Anoop, Vinod and two others who had threatened the MC staffers.

A case under Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against them.

Meanwhile, representatives of waste collectors met city BJP president Sanjay Tandon in the evening. Tandon reportedly talked to the MC chief, asking him to listen to their grievances and resolve the issues. A delegation will be meeting Yadav on Wednesday.

Recruitment begins today

The MC will start the process for recruiting 1,447 registered waste collectors on Wednesday. MC commissioner KK Yadav said the list of registered collectors was prepared last year. With the civic body all set to take over door-to-door garbage collection, it has decided to engage them as helpers, drivers and on other jobs in waste management.

“All registered workers will be called for paper verification before giving them recruitment letters,” said Yadav.

While helpers will draw at least Rs 12,000 per month besides medical facilities, those to be hired to drive garbage vehicles will get Rs 20,000.

Moudgil said at present most waste collectors are being exploited by a handful of contractors, who are behind the protests for their vested interest. Yadav said the claims of waste collectors that more than 5,000 people are engaged in this job is “misinformed”.

First Published: Sep 19, 2018 10:12 IST