Mohali sanitation workers end strike, politics to take credit begins

The strike was triggered a few days ago after a heated argument between sanitation union leader Pawan Godiyal and the Municipal Commissioner during a meeting. This led to employees backing the Commissioner and launching a protest against Godiyal. In retaliation, Godiyal’s faction announced a counter-strike against the sanitary inspectors and the Commissioner, bringing city-wide garbage collection to a halt.

To manage the crisis, the civic body began deploying its own vehicles and a separate group of sanitation workers to resume garbage collection on a limited scale. Meanwhile, Godiyal’s faction submitted a memorandum to the Local Bodies Minister, and discussions were also held at the Deputy Commissioner (DC) level to find a resolution.

At the protest site, the MLA addressed the sanitation workers and said,“You all have been working with the Corporation for many years. This is like a family, and minor conflicts within a family are natural. Solutions should also come from within the family”.

He assured workers that their demands would be addressed and that no salary would be deducted for the days they were on strike.

On the other hand, the Mayor told reporters,“we’ve always maintained that sanitation workers are the backbone of the city. Their concerns were resolved earlier today. The MLA just arrived later to take credit.”

Following the intervention, sanitation workers returned to duty, and Godiyal stated that they would now work with full dedication to restore cleanliness across the city.