Hyderabad civic employees call off strike

Sanitation workers of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Friday called off their indefinite strike following an assurance by the authorities to look into their demands.

Road sweeping and garbage collection in the city had come to a halt as over 20,000 employees had gone on the strike from Thursday midnight. Following talks with GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar, the contract employees decided to call off their strike. The employees' union claimed that the commissioner responded positively to their demands.

The demands include increasing salary from Rs.6,700 to Rs.16,500, mega city allowance and health cards for all employees. Earlier, the striking employees including sweepers and drivers staged a sit-in in front of the GHMC head office, raising slogans in support of their demands.

The strike had also hit anti-mosquito and veterinary services in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. GHMC Employees' Union president U. Gopal had earlier said the government promised to solve their problems by Dec 10 and since no action was taken to fulfill the promise, the employees resorted to strike. He had said the strike would continue till authorities make an announcement to meet their demands.

GHMC has been hiring contract workers for many years instead of recruiting permanent employees. The contract employees complain that they were being paid meagre salaries.