Panchkula: Frustrated over door-to-door garbage collection remaining disrupted for several days, a retired engineer collected waste from several housing societies in Sector 20 on a rehri and dumped it on a road late Wednesday night in protest.The move prompted the municipal corporation to swing into action. Civic workers not only cleared the garbage dumped on the road but also lifted accumulated waste from the affected societies, bringing relief to residents.The protest sparked mixed reactions among residents. While some supported Ram Lal Goyal’s action as a last resort to draw attention to the problem, others criticised the dumping of waste on a public road.“While the administration’s inaction is shameful, scattering trash on a public thoroughfare is not a civilised form of protest. It creates road safety risks and foul conditions for neighbours. We should demand answers through proper channels, not road sabotage,” said Mohit Gupta, founder of residents’ body Solution Box.Defending his action, Goyal said repeated appeals to officials had yielded no results.“For nearly five days, garbage was not lifted from our societies. Residents were inconvenienced and had no place to keep household waste. I approached the chief sanitary inspector, the agency concerned, the councillor and senior officers, but nothing happened. The protest was intended to wake up the corporation,” he said.The 68-year-old retired deputy general manager of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) said sanitation workers employed by societies collect waste from homes and keep it near entry gates for MC staff to lift. However, the backlog had created insanitary conditions, worsened by the monsoon.Following the protest, MC workers cleared the garbage dumped on the road and removed waste from societies where collection had been pending for several days.A senior MC official attributed the disruption to the ongoing sanitation workers’ agitation. “Waste collection has been affected due to the protest by sanitation workers. Although waste collectors are not officially on strike, they are sometimes persuaded not to report for work in support of the agitation. We expect cooperation from residents during this period,” the official said.Sanitation workers across Haryana have been protesting for over two weeks, demanding regularisation and other benefits. The agitation has affected cleanliness in several parts of Panchkula, with garbage heaps visible at multiple locations.Strike Hits Waste CollectionThe ongoing state-wide sanitation workers’ protest has disrupted waste management services across Panchkula. Garbage has remained uncollected in several localities, leading to mounting complaints from residents and raising concerns over public hygiene during the monsoon season.
