Panaji, Jul 9 (TOI): In order to tide over the temporary crisis due to the strike called by the Corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) employees union, CCP has pressed into service about 100 contract workers to collect garbage from across the city. In light of a recent government notification hiking the minimum daily wage to 323, the corporation at an emergency council meeting resolved to pay the same to the workers immediately.

The government has also invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act to compel the striking workers to return to duty.

In a bid to get CCP to hike their wages to 409 per day, which works out to 12,270 per month per worker, the union has raised a stink across the city by not only refusing to collect garbage but also preventing other workers from doing so. Till late evening, the temporary workers hired by CCP were seen working under police protection.

By late evening, the government, through the deputy collector and sub-divisional magistrate, Panaji had declared the services rendered by the Corporation of the City of Panaji as essential services under the Sub -Section (1) of Section 3 of the Goa Essential Services Maintenance Act 1988 and prohibited any strike in all the units and section of the Corporation of the city of Panaji.

"The collection of garbage and its disposal services has been paralyzed due to non performance of regular duties and resorting to strike by the daily workers and it is feared that the same may result into huge consequences to public health in view of the monsoon season and may further aggravate the nuisance, the department of home (general) said in its order.

The order also prohibited assembly and collection of five or more striking workers their leaders or any processions within the radius of 50m around the CCP office.

"I have appealed to the workers to return to work by tomorrow morning if not then we will have to take it that they are not interested in working and then we will have to go for outsourcing," mayor Shubham Chodankar said.

This appeal is unlikely to be heeded by the union, who led by Ajeetsingh Rane, has consistently asked for 409 while also asking that the workers be paid wages for the eight days that they were on strike in December.

Though CCP had earlier resolved not to have any discussions with the errant workers, the corporation did say that it would write to the union with the offer to hike their salary to 323 per worker. Prior to this, the corporation had offered to hike the daily wage salary by 35% to 300 from the earlier 221.

During the day, the CCP employees union affiliated workers were seen sitting in the mermaid garden opposite the sessions court in Panaji.