Sanitation workers of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) struck work for three hours on Saturday morning to protest against the assault on one of their colleagues by a resident of Hindpiri.

The agitation sent senior officials of the civic body into a tizzy to resolve the issue at a time RMC’s staff strength has been reduced to half as many who stay in rural areas are not reporting for duty.

After negotiations that lasted for half-an-hour, the cleaners resumed their duty around 10am.

An RMC employee said the person who had allegedly assaulted Mukesh Kumar was not an ordinary man.

“Aslam, who assaulted the worker, was a former councillor of Ward 22 under which Hindpiri falls. Her wife Nazia is the current councillor and both of them are aware of the fact that sanitation workers are risking their lives to keep the localities clean,” the RMC employee said.

Municipal commissioner Manoj Kumar said cleanliness work was on track after a brief disruption. “Out of 2,000 regular workers, hardly 1,000 are turning up for duty during the lockdown. In this situation, the strike was a matter of concern for us. We sorted out the issue. The man who had assaulted the worker also realised his mistake and apologised,” the municipal commissioner said.

Asked about the dispute, he said the worker alleged he was assaulted when he rebuked a child of the locality who was trying to jump on to an RMC tractor. “However, Aslam said the worker engaged in an argument with him after he tried suggesting him the proper way to conduct spraying in the locality,” the municipal commissioner.

Hindpiri has hogged the limelight after a 22-year-old Malaysian woman, who had put up at a place of worship in the locality along with 16 other foreign nationals, tested positive for coronavirus.

The district administration has screened over 28,000 local residents after that.