Garbage piles up on Nellore city streets

Nellore: Piled up garbage and material dumped for laying new Cement Concrete (CC) roads on the streets are giving nightmarish experience to the city residents. Around 5,000 metric tonnes of garbage have been lying on the streets in the Corporation limits due to the ongoing protest of outsourced sanitation workers.

Not only garbage dumps but also sand stocks, chips, cement bags and other vehicles on the streets are giving trouble to the pedestrians. Rotten smell emanating from the garbage piled up as contract workers have been protesting for the last 24 days, demanding that the government should scrap GO 279 as it would impact their livelihood. There are 1,517 staff working in the Nellore Municipal Corporation. In which, 877 are outsourced workers, 290 working on contract basis and 350 are permanent employees. 

The Corporation authorities have been managing the situation only with the permanent sanitation staff, who were not taking much pains. According to sources, 250 metric tonnes of garbage is being dumped on the city streets every day within in the city limits. The worst affected areas are Chinna Bazaar, Madras Bus Stand, Stonehousepet, Nawabpet and also in residential colonies such as Balaji Nagar, NTR Nagar, Settigunta Road, Mulapet and Vedayapalem.

The civic body has deputed 150 workers per day to clear the garbage in the city limits only for taking care of commercial areas and also on the important roads in the city. Workers have been clearing only 50 to 60 metric tonnes of garbage. Drains in the city have already been clogged due to garbage stuck in the drains. But, Municipal Workers and Employees Association is not willing to call off strike.

They said the Mayor has to keep his promise for not implementing GO No 279. They also say civic authorities are filing illegal cases against the contract employees, who are staging protests. They said that they would continue the agitation if the civic body fails to withdraw GO 279, said K Srinivasulu, honorary president of the AP Municipal Workers and Employees Association.

It may be recalled that the municipal council had approved the GO earlier facilitating handing over of sanitation, drainage, street light maintenance works to contractors. Contract has been awarded to the contractors after conducting a micro-level survey on the new system.

The contractors had also taken up works in three divisions in the city. Opposing the implementation of the GO against the practice of outsourcing for sanitation works, the AP Municipal Workers and Employees Association started protests from August 13. But, there has been huge criticism from the city population for neglecting sanitation conditions in city during monsoon time where people have been facing health problems.

They demanded the civic body to exert pressure on the workers by enforcing ESMA Act for maintaining hygienic conditions rather keeping mum on the developments. “Why civic body officials are not acting against protests during monsoon. They need to take severe action against the staff, who neglect duty,” said SV Mallikarjuna from Dargamitta.