Despite the Municipal Corporation (MC) boasting a strong workforce of more than 6,000 sanitation workers, residents allege large parts of the city continue to grapple with poor cleanliness.According to the official data, the MC hired 564 safai karamcharis, or sanitation workers, in 2025, taking the total number of such employees, regular and contractual, to 6,094.However, the strong workforce has not brought about a change in the ground reality as locals continue to reel under heaps of garbage raising a stink.According to the residents, Focal Point, Dhandari Kalan, Jassian Road and some outer locations of the city are among the primary areas of concerns, with garbage lying in the open.Locals say the garbage is not lifted regularly and only a handful of sanitation workers are visible in their respective areas.“On paper, there are thousands of karamcharis, but on the ground, we hardly see them. Garbage remains lying in the open for days, especially in outer areas,” said Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Dhandari Kalan.MC Commissioner Neeru Katyal Gupta, admitting that the issue had come to her notice, pointed to a possibility of additional hiring.“We have formed a committee for further hiring of safai karamcharis. Discussions are underway regarding introduction of a biometric attendance system,” she said.The residents, however, say the need of the hour is not additional hiring, but ensuring workers’ effective deployment across MC limits.The issue triggered sharp reactions from leaders from across political lines.Former Congress councillor Mamta Ashu said the civic body’s spending priorities were “questionable”. “The MC is supposed to spend around 30 per cent on establishment, but a huge amount is being spent on salaries. Despite this, several areas are filled with garbage and dry waste. This shows a lack of monitoring,” she alleged.Ashu demanded that the MC introduces a biometric attendance system for safai karamcharis.“Only a few workers can be seen on ground. A biometric system will ensure accountability,” she said.Echoing Ashu’s concerns, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor Rohit Sikka said he had been raising the issue for months. “I have repeatedly asked for attendance records of safai karamcharis, but nothing has changed. Even sanitation inspectors have failed to produce registers on being asked,” he alleged.Recently, allegations of a “ghost” employee scam surfaced in the MC. Congress councillor Bhupinder Kaur accused the officials of shielding irregularities in the MC Health Branch and failing to act on repeated complaints.In a complaint to the MC Commissioner, the Mayor and senior officials of the Local Bodies Department, Kaur termed the issue a “serious case of corruption, financial misappropriation and violation of provisions of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act”. She alleged the authorities failed to initiate any concrete action despite repeated representations on the issue.