Tussle between Srinagar Mayor, his Deputy
Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Jan 3: The power struggle between Srinagar Mayor and his Deputy has led to strike by the sanitation workers of Srinagar Municipal Corporation against the assault on an employee with heaps of trash in the streets.
The workers alleged that a female Corporator from Ward No. 7, Shaheena Bhat, assaulted their colleague in her office and demanded her disqualification.
The workers vowed to continue the strike until action is not taken against her. “We will continue our strike until the Corporator is not disqualified,” Maqbool Malik, President Municipal Coordination Committee Srinagar said, adding the workers work diligently and deserve to be treated with respect.
Nearly 5000 sanitation workers are on strike for last three days and that has stalled the cleaning work. The workers did not undertake the regular cleaning of roads, streets and collection of municipal garbage. Garbage piles have turned the roads into stinking dump yards.
Piles of the garbage can be seen lying unattended on all the busy squares of the city including Lal Chowk, Jehangir Chowk, Batmaloo, Maisuma and Dalgate. “Garbage from all the 35 Wards has not been lifted,” Malik said.
At Clock Tower, foul smell emanating from the unattended pile of garbage is bothering both shopkeepers and passerby. ” This is the heart of the city and a prime location. SMC should lift the gargabe from here,” Javeed Ahmad, a passerby said.
The SMC has been gripped by allegations and counter allegations ever since the Corporator, Shaheena Bhat, accused SMC Mayor of sexual harassment. The Mayor has termed the charges as baseless.
However, the workers said they have nothing to do with the politics and want SMC to function the way it was before the elections.”The Coporators are harassing the workers on the field. We want them to treat us with respect,” the president, Maqbool, said, adding he is not aware of Mayor versus Deputy Mayor politics.
Residents said that a power game between Mayor and his Deputy is taking a toll on the civic issues of the people. “They have dragged the entire Srinagar city into their power game. People are suffering and they are fighting for power and funds. Instead of cleaning the roads their filthy relationship is turning the city dirtier,” Danish Farooq, a resident of Nowa Kadal area of Srinagar, said.
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