Sanitation workers in Odisha stage protest by dumping garbage in front of govt offices

Sanitation workers of Kabisuryanagar Notified Area Council (NAC) in Ganjam district intensified their protest on Tuesday by dumping garbage in front of government offices and other public places, demanding immediate payment of their long-pending wages.

As per reports, the agitation, spearheaded by the Kabisuryanagar NAC Sanitation Workers’ Association, has entered its second day. As part of their protest, the workers dumped heaps of garbage in front of the Block Office, Revenue Inspector (RI) Office, bus stand, and other crowded locations across the town, causing inconvenience to the public and drawing attention to their demands.

According to the protesters, they have not received their salaries for the past 10 months. The workers alleged that they have been deprived of their wages as the NAC has failed to clear the bills of the contract agency engaged for sanitation services. As a result, the contractual sanitation workers have been left without regular income for nearly a year, pushing many of them into severe financial hardship.

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Despite repeated appeals, the workers claim that no concrete steps have been taken to resolve the issue, forcing them to resort to agitation. They have warned that the protest will be intensified if their dues are not cleared at the earliest.

"We have not received our salaries for the last ten months, which has made it extremely difficult for us to sustain. Despite submitting written complaints regarding our plight, no attention has been paid to our grievances. As a result, we were left with no option but to stage a protest," said a protester.

Meanwhile, no official response or clarification has been received from the district administration or the NAC authorities regarding the allegations and the demands raised by the sanitation workers.