As heaps of garbage pile up ;SMC employees call off strike after 4 days

Srinagar, Jan 4: Protesting employees of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) called off their strike on Friday following the assurance by the Mayor, Junaid Azim Mattu that their grievances would be addressed.
Mattu, along with SMC senior officials and union representatives, on Friday held a meeting at the Corporation’s head office here.
Besides other demands, the protesting employees have been seeking action against a female councilor who was accused of assaulting one of the employees of SMC and breaking office computers and fixtures.
Assuring action against the accused councilor as per the law, Mayor instructed the city municipality to resume sanitation operations immediately in the best interests of the people and the city.
Speaking to The Kashmir Monitor, President, SMC employee union, Maqbool Lone said the employees demand immediate action against the councilor.
Apart from it, Lone said, the workers demand salaries through online medium, class fourth employees, pending with DPC, should be promoted as soon as possible and the workers should be provided with proper winter gear.
“We apologise to the general public for the inconvenience caused by the strike call, however, our first priority is our self-respect and we cannot compromise on that at any cost,” Lone said.
The SMC sanitation workers were on strike for the last four days resulting in heaps of garbage lying on every other corner of the city.
Earlier, piles of garbage was lying on the city streets including Lal Chowk, Karan Nagar, Batamaloo, Rajbagh, Natipora, Hyderpora, Khanyar, and Lal Bazar.
Stray dogs were spotted eating the rotten leftover as SMC officials did not lift the garbage in the last four days.
Moreover the door-to-door collection of dustbins from the localities too was not carried out during the strike.