The work of tireless sanitation workers, who risk their life dealing with disposal of waste during and after disasters, is often forgotten once normal life returns in the society.
When Chennai was wrecked by Tsunami in 2004, floods in 2015 and Varda cyclone in 2016, sanitation workers were brought from other districts to help clean up the city. Now, with coronavirus threatening to wreak havoc, the role of sanitation workers becomes important once again.
While Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has announced a ₹500 crore package including a one-month salary incentive to all health workers – including sanitation workers – to combat the COVID-19 spread, sanitation worker unions have said that the State government should not leave out sanitation workers in the unorganised sector who don’t fall under permanent, contract-workers, consolidated pay workers.
Gollapalli Israel, Honorary President, Tamil Nadu Conservancy Workers Federation, appreciated Chief Minister’s move to provide one month salary but insisted that the State Government must take into account all sanitation workers without leaving anyone out.
“When we think of sanitation workers, we only think of those working in government hospitals or cleaning the roads. There are innumerable workers working in places such as police stations, private hospitals, in Panchayats and municipalities. In this time of Covid-19 scare, many are asked to clean toilets in homes… we request the State government to provide one month salary to all of them and not leave out anyone,” he said. He further said that the State government must reinvigorate the now defunct Scavengers Welfare Board.
Madras Corporation Red Flag Union on March 17 appealed to the Chennai Corporation to suspend the process of separating degradable and non-degradable wastes to protect the workers against Corona virus.
“Around 5,000 tonnes of waste used by the public is being separated by the workers. Since there is a possibility of them contracting the virus, the Chennai Corporation should suspend this activity,” said P. Sreenivasulu, general secretary, Madras Corporation Red Flag Union.
Samuel Velankanni, State Convenor, Safai Karamchari Andolan, demanded that the State ensure protective gear for the sanitation workers, but also urged the public to do their bit. “I met a few workers even on Friday and they say that PPEs are only given when the officials are there for inspection. They say that availability of PPEs is not consistent,” he said. He also appealed to general public to be considerate in this hour of crisis.
“People should be responsible and not think that someone will come and clean the place. For example, they must segregate waste and dispose it off responsibly, instead of just throwing the waste outside. They should keep their surroundings clean and help the workers at this time.”
