Sanitation workers opposing the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s proposed privatisation of door-to-door garbage collection protested near the Telangana Legislative Assembly on Saturday, leading to preventive detentions and traffic congestion across parts of central Hyderabad.
Police increased security around the Assembly from the morning after receiving information that a large number of Swachh Auto and sanitation workers could gather and attempt to lay siege to the premises. The workers arrived in small groups from different locations and tried to move towards the Assembly.
Police took several protesters, including women, into preventive custody at Public Gardens, the Police Control Room, Gun Park and near the Assembly gate, according to the report. The preventive action was taken as the protesters attempted to approach the Assembly during the demonstration.
In the late afternoon, around 500 workers took out a rally towards the Assembly. Police stopped the march near Ayakar Bhavan, after which the protesters moved towards the Dr B.R. Ambedkar statue at Tank Bund and held a brief demonstration there.
The rally affected traffic on Basheerbagh Road and Tank Bund for nearly an hour. Police personnel regulated traffic and diverted vehicles at several points as congestion built up around the protest locations and the routes leading towards the Assembly.
The workers have been opposing the proposed outsourcing and privatisation of door-to-door waste collection. They contend that handing the work to private agencies could threaten their livelihoods, job security and wages. The workers have urged the Telangana government to stop the proposed privatisation and continue the municipal waste collection system.
The protest has brought a pending civic-service decision into direct conflict with the employment concerns of workers who say they have depended on garbage collection work for years. Door-to-door collection is a routine municipal function, and any change in the operating arrangement would affect both the workers involved and the households served by the system.
The report did not specify the proposed private agencies, the implementation schedule, the number of workers who could be affected or the GHMC’s response to the protesters’ demands. It also did not indicate whether the government had announced a revised decision following the demonstration.
The immediate developments were the police detentions, the stoppage of the rally near Ayakar Bhavan, the brief protest at Tank Bund and the traffic diversions in Basheerbagh and surrounding areas.
