Sanitation workers protests Vadodara

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers are up in arms against its party-ruled Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) over the lack of recruitment of 170 sanitation workers.

A city BJP leader, Chandu Solanki, organised a fast unto death today demanding recruitment of the sanitation workers, whom he says were “on war footing during the Vadodara floods and COVID-19 pandemic.”

A union of sanitation workers declared a strike against the VMC 15 days ago, which has now been reinforced by Solanki’s fast. He carried out a protest with a copy of the constitution, acting as a symbol of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s legacy.

Taking a jibe, the BJP leader said, “Although PM Modi openly washes the feet of dalit women, his party members in Vadodara are doing injustice to sanitation workers.”

A contractor had misled the workers in Vadodara with an excuse of having deployed sanitation workers from Ahmedabad. Major lapses are also alleged in their wage payments.

Notably, Ahmedabad had earlier outsourced sanitation services. It even hired consultants—at a cost of ₹1.25 crore—to help make Ahmedabad the cleanest city by 2026.

Earlier this year, a matter in the Supreme Court was taken up, where the Apex Court came down heavily on the Gujarat government for appealing against a Gujarat High Court order to regularise the services of a sanitation worker.

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