Around 250 cleanling staff working under the solid waste management company, Essel Infra, on contractual basis on Tuesday stopped CM Raghubar Das’ motorcade at Harmu Road and requested him to direct the company for immediately releasing their monthly salary.

labourers involved in the handling and segregating waste materials from different wards have not been paid since February 2017.

After discussing the issue with the labourers, the CM assured all the protesters that the payment will be made to each staff at the earliest. According to the inputs available, Das directed the Town Commissioner, Prashant Kumar to release the salaries of all the sanitation staffs within three days.

Essel Infra GM Arun Singh, in the meantime, said that payments can be made to all the staffs only after receiving full payment from the civic body. “So far, the company has just been paid Rs. 50 lakh for the service they have initiated in 22 wards from October 2016,” he added.

Essel Infra has charged Rs.2.5 crore from RMC for the service. On the other hand, the Municipal Commissioner besides, the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor have clearly stated that the company will be given full payment only after they take the charge of all 55 wards.

Ward Councilor of 37, Arun Jha who was present on the spot too maintained that Essel Infra has utterly failed in managing the solid waste in different wards. “It is better to debar the company, as it is not being able to carry the work properly while maintaining the timeliness. Since March, the work of door-to-door waste collection is being interrupted for one reason or the other. People in our ward blame us unnecessarily for all this mess,” added Jha. As per the contract clause, all the workers engaged in collecting garbage from different wards get Rs. 6,000 on a monthly basis.