India, Aug. 1 -- Nearly 8,800 metric tonnes of uncollected garbage have accumulated across Ludhiana as the sanitation workers' strike continued to cripple waste collection, leaving roads, markets and residential neighbourhoods strewn with refuse.

With around 6,000 sanitation workers employed by the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation remaining off duty, the prolonged deadlock has severely disrupted civic services and intensified concerns over hygiene during the monsoon.

The agitation stems from the alleged police lathi-charge on sanitation workers in Barnala on July 22.

The protesting workers have been demanding the registration of an FIR against the DSP and SHO concerned, maintaining that they will not resume work until criminal proceeding...