Chennai Corporation spends around A4 crore for solid waste management. But it pays only a paltry amount to a section of sanitary workers and almost no employment benefits. They even go without a weekly off or compensation for accidents suffered during work
CHENNAI: Lakshmi grimaced as a motorbike streaked down the street, swiftly turning her back to it. It was her first day back at work as a sanitary worker after being struck down by a motorcycle three days ago.She was sweeping the Injambakkam-Panaiyur main road when the accident happened. “I fell over on the median and suffered injuries to my knees, hip and head. I had to spend Rs 5,000 for treatment,” said the 39-year-old. She had to return to work in three days, even before her wounds had healed, since she could take no medical leave without deduction of pay, being on the Non-Muster Rolls (NMRs) of the Chennai Corporation.
Even with almost 20 years of experience, Lakshmi is one of 482 workers who are on the Corporation’s Non-Muster Rolls. After the expansion of the Corporation, these workers fell under NMRs — they receive no weekly offs and their daily wages amount to just Rs 320.
Before Lakshmi, her colleagues Sanjeeviamma, 35 and Kannan (name changed), 65 were hit by motorcycles, along the same road.
Sanjeeviamma, who had completed 15 years of service, was recently left injured by a speeding bike when she was sweeping the main road. “Early in the morning, these vehicles come at blinding speed. They don’t bother to look back even though they know they’ve hurt us,” she said.
While Sanjeeviamma escaped with a bruised left arm, Kannan was not so lucky. “I broke my leg when I was hit by a vehicle while sweeping the road. I was in bed for four months. They did not give me salary for the first month. We then fought through the union and they paid me for the rest of my time in bed,” he recalls.
Their employers, they said, made reflective overcoats mandatory. However, that came at a price — literally. “They asked us to pay Rs 100 for these overcoats. I need every penny I can get. So, I saw this person wearing one near a restaurant some distance away and pleaded with him to give away one to me,” said Chitra. Her coat was clearly different from the ones the others had, though she had almost managed to scrub the ‘AAI’ mark off it, for fear of her supervisor finding out.
Workers from different parts of the city said that they were given a pair of gloves once a month. Sometimes these gloves would be of rubber, sometimes cloth. And instead of gumboots, many received only chappals.
“Even if they give us those shoes (gum boots), they’re oversized and very uncomfortable,” said Chinnaiah K, a contract-based staff.
P Srinivasan, general secretary of the Chennai Corporation Red Flag told Express that there was a 1978 bylaw that stated that a conservancy worker may only clean up to 500 metres and handle waste from 250 houses a day.
Today, it is estimated that there are 7,190 workers in the Swarna Jayanthi scheme that does not guarantee tenure permanence and other contract-based schemes. According to a senior Corporation official, there were about 7,600 permanent workers.
In a city with about 42,000 streets - according to Corporation data - that generates over 6,000 tonnes of garbage a day with a per capita waste generation second to none, the number of workers on the field is grossly incommensurate.
In addition, the Corporation has put the recruitment of permanent staff on hold, according to a senior official. “As far as I know, 572 permanent staff retired last year. So how are they going to fill the vacancies?” asked Srinivasan.
The Solid Waste Management department of the Greater Chennai Corporation had an estimate of Rs 4 crore in the 2016-17 budget estimate — half of it for plant and machinery compost bins and the rest for the Swachh Bharat Mission. While the figure may seem miniscule, it shines in comparison with the allocation in 2014-15 and 2015-16 when the department received nothing.
Health hazards
The occupational health hazards involved were often overlooked in their cases. Although masks were distributed to these workers, many chose not to wear them. Chandra’s husband, Seshiah, died three years ago due to respiratory problems while he was on the job. “When he died, I could not cremate him for two days for want of money. All the other sanitary workers gave Rs 10 per head and made whatever arrangements were possible,” said the the 57-year-old.
However, she said she had not received an acknowledgment from officials at any level, let alone compensation.
When contacted, a senior Corporation official declined to comment on the issue.
A study conducted in 2012 by Roopa Srinivasan et al, one of only a handful of studies on the subject, stated that observation of the respiratory functions of 178 solid waste management workers (sweepers and loaders) in Chennai suggests higher prevalence of both respiratory symptoms and respiratory impairments (as established through pulmonary function tests) in the study population.
“The decrement in pulmonary function with increasing duration of working strongly suggests that workplace exposures may be contributing significantly to such impairments,” the study had said
Many of these workers also suffered from low self-esteem, hardly addressed in the discourse of conservancy work.
“I’ve learnt to accept it when my neighbours call my house ‘kuppakaaramma veedu’. But I’m not sure that my children have,” said 40-year-old Chitra.
When she first took up the job, Chitra had thought she would quickly grow a thick skin. After 23 years of being a sanitation worker, she is now realising that she never really will.