Gurugram sanitation workers extend strike till August 15

Sanitation workers of the Municipal Corporation Gurugram (MCG) have extended their ongoing strike until August 15, continuing a protest over employment and service-related demands.

Union representatives said nearly 2,800 sanitation workers are participating in the stoppage, which has suspended road-sweeping work in parts of the city. The workers held a protest outside the old MCG office and marched through Agrasen Chowk, Agarwal Dharamshala Chowk and Gurdwara Road before joining a district-level employees’ rally.

The unions are demanding that sanitation and sewer workers, as well as fire department drivers and firemen, be regularised. They also want outsourcing of sanitation and sewerage work stopped, vacant posts filled and the old pension scheme implemented. Other demands include minimum wages and labour-law benefits for contract workers until regularisation, reinstatement of retrenched workers, a risk allowance for sanitation staff, and support for families of employees who die on duty.

Union leaders said these issues were included in a May 13 settlement and that promised action has not followed. They claimed that regularisation of several categories of municipal workers had been agreed to by June 30. MCG officials said a decision on the policy requires action by the Haryana government.

For residents, the immediate impact is likely to be reduced street-cleaning services while the strike continues.