Garbage dumped along a main road in Sambalpur. Telegraph picture

Sambalpur, Jan. 30: Fourteen wards of the city is stinking for the past few days as cleaning staff of Sambalpur Municipality have gone on strike demanding job regularisation.

With nearly 500 employees on agitation since January 24, garbage lies dumped on the roadside in 14 of the 29 wards. Cleaning job in the remaining 15 wards is taken care of by a private organisation.

“The agitation has worsened the city’s sanitary scenario. The municipal authority should take immediate measures to resolve the problem,” said local resident Priya Ranjan Purohit.

“Dumped garbage at several places is raising a stink. Garbage has also spilled into drains and choked the sewer lines. The situation will worsen if the agitation continues,” said local resident, Sandeep Pradhan. Secretary of Sambalpur Municipality Mehentara Sangha, Prashanta Padhee, said that the agitation would continue until the demands were met.

“The government had asked in October 2012 to regularise 325 casual employees. Of the 325 cleaning employees, 63 are yet to be regularised,” said Padhee while demanding that steps must be taken to fill up 220 vacancies.

The association is also staging a dharna in front of the municipality office. This has affected regular work at the municipality. Executive officer of the municipality Aniruddha Padhan admitted that the strike had badly hit the sanitation of the city. He said: “Efforts are on to resolve the issue.”