In a dramatic midnight operation on Wednesday, Chennai police detained around 800 sanitation workers who had been staging a 13-day protest outside the Greater Chennai Corporation’s (GCC) Ripon Building, following a Madras High Court directive to clear the site.
The workers, employed under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM), have been opposing the GCC’s move to privatise solid waste management in Royapuram (Zone 5) and Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar (Zone 6) — two of the last remaining zones under direct civic control. They fear the outsourcing will jeopardise their jobs, reduce wages, and expose them to exploitation by private contractors.
GCC’s plan, implemented from August 1, hands over these zones to private firms, joining the 10 of Chennai’s 15 zones already managed by companies such as Urbaser-Sumeet and Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd (REEL). Many of the protesting workers, including veterans with over a decade of service, began their strike after being denied duty entry on August 1.
The agitation, backed by major trade unions like AICCTU, AITUC, LTUC, and LPU, as well as political parties including CPI, CPI(M), DMDK, TVK, and PMK, saw daily gatherings at the Ripon Building. On Wednesday, despite last-minute talks with Municipal Administration Minister K.N. Nehru, no breakthrough was reached.
Following the court order, police arrived at the protest site late at night, rounded up the demonstrators within 45 minutes, and transported them in 14 buses. Eyewitnesses reported women fainting during the eviction, with some taken away in ambulances.
Senior BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan condemned the “brutal” eviction on X, accusing the Tamil Nadu government of mismanagement and calling the situation “very unfortunate,” criticising Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for not engaging directly with the agitating workers.
