Thousands of industrial quality gloves are lying unsold in the wholesale markets of Hyderabad and Secunderabad owing to the lockdown, and the government may consider procuring and supplying them to garbage collectors, suggests Vasudha Nagaraj, High Court advocate and member of Women and Transgenders’ JAC.
On her part, she purchased and distributed 400 gloves at a slum in Mudfort area in Secunderabad, where 150 families of garbage collectors stay. Montfort Social Institute, Ramantapur, is in the process of procuring 700 more for distribution.
“We could only do what was in our capacity. The government should do it on a large scale,” Ms.Nagaraj says.
The JAC has written to the high-level committee on COVID-19, requesting them to ensure healthcare kit to each trash collector family, comprising five soaps, shampoo, detergent powder, hand gloves, hand kerchiefs and towels.
A bell or horn should be provided for the vehicles, as the whistles they are using presently are highly contagious. Appointment of a team of doctors and paramedics is also demanded to conduct health camps at each of the colonies housing garbage collectors. Awareness should be created among them about wearing protective gear.
These apart, advisory should be issued to people in home quarantine about safe disposal of waste, the JAC said.
