SILCHAR, July 27 - Garbage continued to pile up in parts of the town as the ongoing strike by the Silchar municipal employees and workers entered the seventh day on Sunday, causing inconvenience to denizens. People are finding it difficult to walk on the roads with foul smell emanating from overflowing garbage from dustbins. Also, the wastes are spread across many street corners of the town.
In sync with the State wide agitation, the employees and workers of the Silchar Municipal Board have resorted to a protest since July 20 against non-fulfilment of their long-standing demands including implementation of pension, recruitment of staff on compassionate grounds and regularisation of daily wage workers.
�We have been demanding the regularisation of the services for a very long time but the State administration has not taken any steps yet on the issue,� said Nani Bhattacharjee, general secretary of the Silchar Municipality Employees� Union. He added to say that the municipal workers have also not been paid their wages since the last four months.
Bhattacharjee said that the matter of provincialisation was passed in the Cabinet meeting of the State Government on September 4, 2013. But due to apathy from the bureaucrats, the matter has not yet been sent to the Assembly. �There have been flurry of assurances from the administrative top brass. From PK Barthakur, Chief Secretary, PK Talukdar, Deputy Secretary, Urban Development Authority, and PP Mazumdar, Deputy Secretary in the Chief Minister�s Office, everyone has assured that the demands will be fulfilled. The matter was brought to the notice of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who had assured them that their demands would be met as soon as possible. But, despite all the talks and assurances, no positive response has come from the State Government, Bhattacharjee lamented.
Meanwhile, the State wide agitation by the civic board employees and workers which began on July 20 has been extended till August 10 following no response to their demands by the government for implementation of pension, recruitment of staff on compassionate grounds and regularization of daily wage workers.
In this backdrop, Niharendra Narayan Thakur, chairman of Silchar Municipal Board convened a meeting with all the civic board chairpersons and heads of the town committees of Barak Valley on Sunday at his office. Talking to this correspondent, Thakur said that besides him, the meeting was attended by chairperson of Karimganj Municipal Board and president of Lala Town Committee along with 17 ward commissioners of Silchar Municipality. He added to say that a resolution has been adopted in the meeting which will be sent to the government for early action regarding enrollment of the employees in the government cadre.
Elaborating on the resolution, Thakur said the government must sit with the protesting employees and respond to their legitimate demands. He said that in spite of the clear note from the Chief Minister on the demands on April 3 this year with instructions to place the matter in the next Cabinet meeting, the issue has remained unheard. Also, the members have requested the agitating civic employees across the State to keep garbage clearance out of their protest agenda for the greater interest of the tax paying public of respective towns in the State. �We are doing what best we can do. Let us see how the government responds to the demands to solve this stalemate,� Thakur said.
Golakganj: The ongoing strike called by Dhubri Municipal Board employees has led to a waste management disaster in the town. The municipal workers are restoring to strike for the last seven days. The strike has led to accumulation of tones of wastes on the roads and open spaces of the town. Rotten garbage has added another threat which may cause an epidemic any moment. There is also a fear of Japanese Encephalitis. Around 60 tonnes of municipal wastes are collected everyday from the 16 wards within the town. After the employees went on strike, the Municipal Board has no alternative plan to dispose off the waste.
All works by the municipality, except water supply and street lighting, has come to a grinding halt following the strike called since July 20 by All Assam Civic Bodies Workers� Federation. The civic workers across the State have been demanding provincialization of the services along with pension for retired employees among other demands.
