Municipal councils across Punjab have begun using JCB excavators and other heavy machinery to clear massive garbage dumps that accumulated during the nearly three week-long strike by sanitation workers.With huge dumps uncollected waste dotting markets, residential colonies and roadside collection points, urban local bodies have launched an intensive sanitation drive to restore normal civic services amidst claims by minister for local bodies that the strike has ended. The mechanical clearance is expected to continue over the next few days before routine door-to-door waste collection fully resumes, the sources said.Punjab Local Bodies and Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said garbage removal had already commenced across the state following a breakthrough in talks with sanitation workers.”Clearing of garbage dumps has already started across the state. Heavy machines, including JCBs, are being used to clear the accumulated waste so that normal sanitation services can be restored at the earliest,” Bains told The Tribune.According to the minister, the government has resolved major issues raised by sanitation workers and a formal agreement between the Punjab Government and employee representatives would be signed on Monday, officially ending the strike.The strike had virtually paralysed sanitation services in urban Punjab for nearly three weeks. Garbage remained uncleared in most municipal areas, leading to overflowing waste collection points, foul smell and growing concerns over public health, particularly during the ongoing monsoon season.Municipal authorities have now prioritised the removal of accumulated waste before resuming regular sanitation operations. In several towns, JCB excavators are being deployed to lift large garbage heaps into tractor trailers and dumpers for transportation to disposal sites.Officials said mechanised equipment was necessary as the volume of waste generated during the strike was too large to be cleared manually within a short period.The government has directed urban local bodies to clear the accumulated garbage on priority to prevent any outbreak of diseases and restore cleanliness in cities and towns.The settlement with sanitation workers includes several long-standing demands. Among the key assurances, outsourced sanitation workers will be brought under the contractual system with an enhanced monthly salary of Rs 20,500. The government has also agreed to regularise sanitation workers serving on contract since 2021, a major demand raised during the negotiations.The agitation had also renewed debate over the modernisation of Punjab’s sanitation system. Despite mechanisation in many states, urban sanitation in Punjab continues to rely heavily on manual workers, most of whom belong to the economically and socially marginalised Balmiki community.Earlier, the minister had acknowledged that efforts to introduce mechanised sanitation had encountered resistance from sections of workers apprehensive about possible job losses.The government, he said, had assured employees that mechanisation would not result in retrenchment and that existing workers would instead be trained to operate modern sanitation equipment.