Haryana is grappling with a mounting sanitation and public health challenge as a statewide strike by municipal sanitation workers entered its 24th day on Sunday, leaving heaps of uncollected and decomposing garbage in markets, residential areas and other public spaces across several cities.
The agitation has disrupted routine garbage collection and road sweeping at a particularly difficult time, with monsoon rains leaving stagnant water around waste dumps. Health officials have warned that the combination of decomposing organic waste, clogged drains and standing water could increase the risk of vector- and water-borne diseases, including dengue, malaria and diarrhoea. The impact has been reported across Gurugram, Hisar, Karnal, Ambala, Yamunanagar and several other urban centres.
The strike is being led by the Nagarpalika Karamchari Sangh Haryana, with workers demanding, among other things, regularisation of contractual employees. The agitation had been extended until August 30, with union leaders warning that it could turn indefinite if the remaining issues are not resolved.
Monsoon adds to public health concerns
Ambala district epidemiologist Dr Sunil Hari warned that rainwater collecting around decomposing garbage provides favourable breeding conditions for mosquitoes and flies. Wet organic waste, particularly discarded food, can also release gases as it decomposes, while clogged sewerage systems could increase the danger of contamination of municipal water supplies.
The concerns have grown as garbage has remained unattended at several locations for days. Residents and traders in affected areas have complained of foul smell and deteriorating hygiene, while municipal authorities are attempting to prevent accumulated waste from becoming a larger health hazard.
The crisis has also highlighted the consequences of prolonged disruption to essential civic services. While workers maintain that the government has failed to implement earlier commitments, authorities argue that emergency garbage removal is necessary to protect public health.
Civic bodies deploy JCBs, tippers
Municipal corporations have increasingly turned to alternative arrangements, including JCB machines, tractor-trolleys, loaders and tipper trucks, to remove accumulated waste. Some operations have been conducted with police protection after striking workers attempted to stop clean-up drives.
In Karnal’s Ram Nagar, protesters gathered near a dumping site on Saturday when municipal officials arrived with machinery to clear garbage. Several protesters were detained as police escorted garbage-removal vehicles. A confrontation had earlier been reported in Hisar during a similar operation.
Karnal Municipal Corporation Commissioner Saloni Sharma said civic teams were sending tippers for door-to-door collection and had achieved about 90 per cent household coverage. A special drive was also undertaken at 30 locations considered particularly vulnerable to garbage accumulation.
According to the civic body, about 250 metric tonnes of waste was cleared in Karnal on Saturday alone, while roughly 1,400 metric tonnes had been collected since August 19 and transported to solid-waste treatment facilities.
Ambala authorities have similarly deployed regular municipal employees in vulnerable wards to undertake sweeping and other essential sanitation work.
Regularisation remains key sticking point
The prolonged dispute has continued despite several rounds of discussions between representatives of the workers and the state government. The government maintains that it has accepted 13 of the unions’ 14 demands, leaving the regularisation of contractual employees as the principal unresolved issue.
During talks with a workers’ delegation in Kurukshetra last week, Haryana Cabinet minister Krishan Kumar Bedi said the government was seeking legal advice on regularisation in view of judicial orders.
The unions, however, argue that assurances given during an earlier agitation in May have not been adequately implemented. Naresh Shastri, state president of the Nagarpalika Karamchari Sangh Haryana, has maintained that employees will continue their agitation until concrete decisions are taken.
Workers are also seeking an end to outsourcing and the contractual employment system, departmental absorption of workers engaged through contractors and improved wages and service benefits. The demand for regularisation remains at the centre of the present deadlock.
Government says remaining issues under consideration
Union Power Minister and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, speaking in Karnal, said the state government was examining the matter and that several demands raised by workers in the past had already been addressed. He said the remaining issues were under consideration.
The standoff has meanwhile become increasingly confrontational. Police-backed garbage clearance operations have led to detentions in several districts, including Hisar, Charkhi Dadri and Yamunanagar, while officials have warned against obstructing workers and machinery deployed for emergency sanitation duties.
Earlier in Hisar, where thousands of tonnes of waste had accumulated, a confrontation broke out after municipal teams accompanied by police moved to clear garbage. Similar tensions have surfaced elsewhere as administrations try to keep essential services running.
With the unions threatening to extend the agitation indefinitely and no agreement yet on regularisation, Haryana faces the prospect of a continuing civic crisis. For residents, the immediate concern is that an industrial dispute over employment conditions is increasingly becoming a public health problem as accumulated waste and monsoon conditions combine to heighten disease risks.