Coimbatore Corporation Clears 857 Tonnes of Waste After Deepavali; 106 Tonnes from Firecrackers

Coimbatore: The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation has cleared 857 tonnes of waste across its five zones following Deepavali celebrations, including around 106 tonnes of firecracker waste, even as the post-festival cleaning drive has been hit by an ongoing strike by contract sanitary workers.

The strike by contract sanitary workers, which began as an indefinite protest, entered its second consecutive day on Tuesday, affecting routine sanitation work as well as the post-Deepavali waste clearance effort.

The cleaning drive had begun on November 8 across the five zones covering 100 wards, with waste being removed from roads, streets and interior areas. More than 4,000 contract sanitary workers are participating in the protest, which has disrupted the Corporation's usual sanitation operations.

To manage the situation, the Corporation deployed around 1,000 permanent sanitary workers in shifts. As of 1 pm on November 9, a total of 857 tonnes of waste had been cleared, with the operation involving 1,862 sanitation workers and 371 vehicles, including lorries and battery-operated vehicles.

Corporation Commissioner Katta Ravi Teja, IAS, said the cleaning operations were planned to continue until night to ensure that the work was completed in a timely manner.