Barnala: Sanitation workers on Wednesday blocked efforts to clear garbage accumulated during their ongoing strike in Barnala.The Punjab and Haryana high court had on Monday termed the accumulating waste an alarming situation and ordered civic bodies to file affidavits by Wednesday mentioning steps taken to resolve the crisis. Tension erupted near SD College and Handiaya Bazaar when the district administration and municipal corporation, flanked by police forces, moved in to remove garbage. Protesting workers, including women, assembled in large numbers and engaged in a standoff, later alleging that police resorted to lathicharge. Led by the Municipal Mulazam Action Committee and the Safai Sewak Union, the workers first launched their strike on May 6. Their demands include wage hikes, reinstatement of the Old Pension Scheme and the regularisation of all contractual staff. They are opposed to the policy notified on Feb 21, 2023, requiring 10 years of service before contractual employees can be regularised. According to committee adviser Kuldeep Kumar, the govt had promised on May 21 that hazardous-duty outsourced staff, such as sewermen, safai sewaks, beldars and electricians, would qualify for contractual status after just three years. While that assurance briefly ended the strike, workers resumed their protest on July 8, accusing the govt of backing out of the agreement.
