Bhopal, Nov 5 (PTI) More than two lakh sanitation workers across Madhya Pradesh have gone on an indefinite strike ahead of Diwali to demand scrapping of the outsourcing system and regularisation of jobs, a representative of their union said on Thursday.
Garbage collection from households and dumpsters was disrupted in Bhopal and several other cities for the past two days.
Traders in several markets arranged cleaning using hired workers ahead of the Diwali festival.
The workers are pressing for various demands, including scrapping the outsourcing system in sanitation work and regularising their jobs.
"Our talks with the Urban Administration Department's Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Dubey to end the strike failed on Wednesday," Magan Jhanjhot, president of the Madhya Pradesh Akhil Bharatiya Safai Mazdoor Congress, told PTI over the phone.
He said the union would now approach Chief Minister Mohan Yadav with its demands to break the deadlock.
Nearly 2.5 lakh workers across civic bodies in the state have stopped work, Jhanjhot claimed, adding that they would call off the strike only after their demands are met.
Urban Administration and Housing Development Department Commissioner Sanket Bhondve and Bhopal Municipal Commissioner Ramprakash Ahirwar could not be contacted for a response.
Bhopal generates 850 tonnes of waste daily. More than 400 vehicles are deployed for door-to-door garbage collection in the state capital, with each making two to three trips daily.
Waste is collected at 17 garbage stations across the city and transported in capsule tankers to Adampur Chhawni.
The strike has disrupted household garbage collection and the transportation of waste to disposal facilities.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)