Ghaziabad, March 16 (IANS): Over 800 tonnes of garbage piled up across Ghaziabad on Monday as sanitation workers suddenly declared a strike protesting the officials' "apathy" towards their problems.

The workers' leaders said municipal officials were notified that in absence of a dumping ground, the staff had no place to dump the garbage. But the officers ignored them, and so the sanitation workers had to go on strike.

Acknowledging the problem, Municipal Commissioner Abdul Samad said: "Of course we have the problem of a dumping ground, but we have to lift and dispose off the garbage at every cost."

Claiming that some staff came to work, while the majority protested, he said: "They demanded a proper place to dump. But the city has limitations and is facing a land crunch. The workers should not bother over that... the top officers of the city administration are concerned about it and working to solve the problem."

Environmental activist Akash Vashishtha said the municipality was dumping waste wherever it finds a vacant place.

"Since over a month they had found a vacant stretch of land alongside the railway track and started dumping there. The municipal corporation is playing havoc with the citizens' health."