More than 10 days since the sanitation workers in Dehradun went on strike, the officials of the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun and the district administration are struggling and working odd hours to tackle the civic sanitation crisis affecting various parts of the provisional state capital. Along with hired help and workers not on strike, the MCD officials and district officials accompanied by the police are managing the alternate arrangements for garbage disposal during the late night hours. Though they are achieving some success in this task, working till the wee hours has made it difficult for such officials to also work in their offices for the whole duration of their official daytime hours. At MCD, the demonstration being staged daily by protesting sanitation workers is also posing inconvenience to members of the public who arrive here for different tasks. According to sources, more than 20 complaints regarding various civic issues like street lights and road repair lodged since the strike began have either not been addressed yet or are being processed. When asked about the situation at MCD, most of the citizens there said that municipal officers are available for a couple of hours in their office during the daytime. In their absence, their subordinates seldom seem to be sure about when the officer concerned will return to office, they stated.
One such citizen, Manju said, “For quite some time now, the municipal officers cannot be found present in their offices during the daytime working hours. When we ask them about when the official will return, the assistant simply says that they are in a meeting or that even he is unaware of when the official will return to office."
However, the additional municipal commissioner Neeraj Joshi averred that the corporation is functioning properly. He said, “We are trying our best to clean the city as soon as possible for which we are working day and night.” When asked about the difficulty that the officials might be facing from working the night shift he said, “There are no such difficulties, we are working during the night and also coming to the office during the daytime to complete other works that need our attention.”