Four-Day Sanitation Workers' Strike Ends In MP After Agreement On Regularisation

Sanitation workers across Madhya Pradesh resumed door-to-door garbage collection on Saturday morning after calling off their four-day strike following late-night talks with Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, officials said.

According to the sanitation workers' union, the breakthrough came after the state government agreed to initiate the regularisation process for workers employed for 25 days a month, a move expected to raise their monthly wages from Rs 10,500 to up to Rs 20,000.

Workers were seen clearing heaps of garbage dumped in open spaces and along major roads across the state capital.

"Bhopal will shine by 2 pm. We are working round the clock to clean the city," Magan Jhanjhot, president of the Madhya Pradesh Akhil Bharatiya Safai Mazdoor Congress, told PTI.

Jhanjhot said union leaders first held talks with Minister Krishna Gaur, Mayor Malti Rai, and Municipal Commissioner Ramprakash Ahirwar, before meeting the chief minister to resolve the deadlock on Friday night.

He said workers had initially demanded a wage hike to Rs 25,000, but agreed to the government's offer of regularisation, which brings their pay to between Rs 18,000 and Rs 20,000.

"The process to regularise employees working 29 days a month and those on daily wages will also begin. A committee including union representatives will complete this exercise within a month," Jhanjhot said, adding that pending cases of compassionate appointments for workers' kin would also be taken up.

Following the breakthrough on Friday night, Bhopal Collector Priyank Mishra, Mayor Malti Rai, and Municipal Commissioner Ramprakash Ahirwar joined sanitation workers wielding brooms in a cleanliness drive at 10-Number Market.

The four-day strike had left an estimated 2,550 tonnes of garbage piled up on Bhopal's streets. On Friday, protesting workers had also disrupted tanker water supply, causing shortages in several localities.