The contractor assigned by the Public Works Department (PWD) to clean the Grand Canal that runs through the Boulevard has provided safety masks, gum boots and gloves to the contract workers engaged in the task of manually cleaning the canal.
This comes in the wake of a news report published in The Hindu on Thursday about workers outsourced by the PWD cleaning the Grand Canal without any safety gloves and masks.
Higher officials are reported to have pulled up the contractor for not following safety norms.
According to K. Ramesh, the contractor, all the 15 labourers engaged in cleaning have been immunised to protect them against infections. Workers are also being regularly given preventive vaccination to protect them from infection, he said.
Recently, Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi, while appreciating the conservancy workers engaged in cleaning up the canal, gave instructions to provide protective gear for them.
Ms. Bedi followed it up with a written direction to the departments concerned.
