BMC T-Ward’s Workers Join BMC Cleaning Workers’ Strike!
The BMC’s decision to offer contracts of cleaning Mumbai city to private contractors has misfired. The angry cleaning workers of BMC have strongly opposed the decision and in protest have gone on strike from Friday. The BMC T-Ward cleaning staff has also extended their support, which means garbage in Mulund will remain unattended and may spread a stink. Home Times reporters witnessed huge piles of garbage lying outside buildings and the BMC Clean-Up Vans, too, have vanished from the roads.
The strike is in response to BMC handing the cleaning work of Mumbai roads, picking housing society garbage and dumping in dumping ground to private contractors. BMC has started handing the contract to private contractors from Wednesday in the Western Mumbai. The responsibility of private contractors is to provide garbage bins in every Ward, to dumping garbage at dumping grounds. BMC claims by giving contracts Mumbai’s cleaning work will be more efficient and the city will be more ‘Swachh’. After the successful experimentation, BMC plans to adopt this policy for all the 24 wards. However, the BMC staff is opposing the move as they argue their job is being hijacked. Further, reports claim BMC will be offering a much higher rate to the private contractors than the amount given in the old pattern of cleaning Mumbai.
A BMC T-Ward cleaning staff lamented. He told Home Times, “There are many cleaning staff members who are doing the cleaning job at BMC for the past 10 to 12 years. But, with the sudden privatization, our job is at stake and we would be left to starve.”
Though the BMC has announced to secure the cleaning staff job by transferring them to different departments, the workers who have been temporarily working since long are in a dilemma. The temporarily cleaning staff is lamenting over their future.
BMC’s New Cleaning Policy
According to the new cleaning policy of BMC, the contractors will provide the garbage bins both in the Wards and at housing societies. These filled garbage bins would be picked by the contractors at stipulated times. Even the Clean Up vans will be managed by the private employees of the contractors. The Clean Up vans will dump garbage at dumping grounds.
At slums, garbage will be collected as per the adopted Slum Policy.
