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Two sanitation workers — Jenova and Bharathi — participating in an indefinite hunger strike against the privatisation of solid waste management in Chennai were hospitalised even as the protest entered its 15th day.
Jenova was admitted to Kilpauk Medical College on Saturday, November 29, while Bharathi was taken to Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital the following day, activist-advocate Pulianthope Mohan told TNM.
It may be recalled that four workers, including Jenova and Bharathi, launched the indefinite hunger strike on November 18 at the Ambattur office of the Uzhaipor Urimai Iyakkam (UUI).
The protest continues, with four other workers — M Saraswathi, K Kalpana, V Velangani, and E Saraswathi — now sitting on hunger strike after replacing the previous group.
The strike was launched by the UUI and the Labour Trade Union Centre (LTUC) after hundreds of conservancy workers in Zones 5 and 6 lost their jobs in August 2025 following the Greater Chennai Corporation’s decision to allot sanitation work to Chennai Enviro Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of the Hyderabad-based private contractor Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited.
Many of the workers had been with the Corporation for 10–15 years under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM).
The protesting workers have also raised concerns over clauses in the contracts offered by Ramky that allow the company to unilaterally change employment terms at any time and to deploy workers in any location, subsidiary, or future venture of the parent company.
Workers say multiple rounds of talks between union representatives and Greater Chennai Corporation officials have failed. They allege that while the police have repeatedly urged them to withdraw the strike, no senior Corporation official has met them or responded to their demands so far.
Sanitation workers have been demonstrating since August at several locations including Marina Beach, Rajarathinam Stadium, and other residential areas. They have been arrested multiple times, including during a late-night police crackdown on August 13 at the Ripon Building protest site. A large rally was held on November 28 in Pudupet in solidarity with the hunger strikers.