Patna sanitation workers have threatened to resume an indefinite strike from November 3, accusing the Bihar government of failing to act on assurances given after their previous agitation and warning of renewed disruption to municipal services if their demands remain unresolved.
Sanitation workers of the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) protested at the civic body’s Maurya Lok headquarters on Friday. The demonstration was organised by the PMC Employees’ Joint Coordination Committee and formed part of a statewide mobilisation by municipal employees.
The Bihar Local Bodies Employees Federation and the Local Bodies Employees Joint Struggle Front have called the indefinite strike from November 3. The organisations are seeking regularisation of daily-wage workers, equal pay, direct payment of salaries and access to benefits under the Modified Assured Career Progression and Assured Career Progression schemes.
Their other demands include timely payment of wages, deposits of provident fund and Employees’ State Insurance contributions, clearance of pending compassionate appointments and pension dues, payment of wages for the previous strike period, and withdrawal of action taken against protesters.
Committee president Chandraprakash Singh said Urban Development Minister Nitish Mishra had given assurances on August 6, after which the workers suspended an eight-day strike that began on July 30. The assurances followed discussions over the employees’ service-related demands, according to the workers’ representatives.
Spokesperson Jitendra Kumar said the urban development department had formed a committee headed by its secretary to resolve the issues within a month. However, he said four meetings held over three months had produced no concrete outcome. The workers’ account was reported by the Times of India, which cited the employees’ representatives involved in the protest.
The dispute places municipal sanitation workers at the centre of a wider administrative question: how urban local bodies manage essential services while employment, payment and social-security responsibilities remain contested. In Patna, sanitation work depends on the continued availability of workers across neighbourhoods, while the employees’ organisations say unresolved service conditions have continued despite earlier negotiations.
The workers said they did not want to disrupt Chhath celebrations but might be forced to resume the agitation. Chhath is a major public festival in Bihar, and the timing of the proposed strike has added urgency to the negotiations, although the workers have not withdrawn their call.
The next formal milestone is November 3, when the two employee organisations have said the indefinite strike will begin if their demands remain unaddressed. The state urban development department and PMC are yet to announce a settlement on the issues listed by the workers.
