As the strike by safai karamcharis entered its 35th day on Friday, the Faridkot Municipal Committee found itself unable to lift the mounting heaps of garbage piling up across the city. Instead, the MC resorted to covering the trash with polyethylene sheets to keep it out of sight and stop it from getting wet.With protesting workers staging sit-ins and blockades at several points, civic authorities were left with no option but to adopt short-term, stopgap measures rather than actual waste disposal. At several locations in the city, lime powder, calcium hydroxide/calcium oxide, was also dusted over the covered heaps. MC officials said the sanitary measure was aimed at controlling stench, absorbing excess moisture, checking the breeding of flies and other pests, and serving as a temporary disinfectant until regular lifting operations could resume.Residents said covering the garbage was no substitute for its actual removal. They pointed out that heaps continue to grow by the day at collection points across wards and that the makeshift covering exercise was aimed more at avoiding public outrage than addressing the civic crisis at its root.Amrit Pal, executive officer of the MC, said, “While the MC has been keen to avoid direct confrontation with the agitating karamcharis, it simultaneously had to grapple with rising public health concerns as untreated waste accumulates in and around residential areas.”