Four sanitation workers began an indefinite hunger strike on Monday, November 18, over the Greater Chennai Corporation’s continued refusal to negotiate on their demand to roll back the privatisation of sanitation work.
The employees — Bharathi, Jenova, Geetha and Vasanthi — have vowed to continue the strike until their demands are met. All four underwent a medical examination at the Avadi Government Hospital.
In line with directives of the Madras High Court, the workers commenced the strike on Monday at the Ambattur office of the Uzhayipor Urumai Iyakkam. Police personnel have also been deployed at the protest site.
It must be noted that sanitation workers from zones five and six of the Greater Chennai Corporation have been protesting for the past 110 days, since August 1. Earlier, the workers were forcefully evicted from the Ripon Building, where they had been staging an indefinite protest, citing lack of permissions.
The workers have been demanding that the GCC withdraw its decision to allot sanitation work to Chennai Enviro Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of the Hyderabad-based private contractor RE Sustainability Limited (Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited). They had also raised concerns over clauses in the contracts offered by Ramky that allowed 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.
The workers had approached the Madras High Court seeking permission to conduct an indefinite protest at Rajarathinam Stadium in Egmore after their eviction from the GCC premises in August. On November 14, the High Court granted permission for the indefinite strike.
A bench led by Justice A D Jagadish Chandira permitted four workers to go on an indefinite strike and allowed an additional 50 people to be present as supporters or visitors at the protest site. The court also directed that a doctor must visit the workers regularly to monitor their health during the protest.