NEW DELHI: Vishal Shyam (name changed) has been working as a contractual worker with the Delhi Jal Board for 18 years. A sewer worker, he has been on duty almost every day during the lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We watch the news on TV and on WhatsApp and are scared to go out of our houses. Every time I go out, I do not know if I’ll come back to my children, parents or my wife,” said Shyam, who has two young children. After deductions, Shyam manages to earn between Rs 12,000 to Rs 13,000 a month. The National Campaign for Dignity and Rights of Sewerage and Allied Workers which reached out to sanitation workers to assess the impact of the lockdown on them in Delhi.
Hemlata Kansonia, convener, the National Campaign for Dignity and Rights of Sewerage and Allied Workers, pointed out that most respondents during the interviews said there was no steady supply of gloves, masks, PPEs, and sanitizers. Most sanitation workers used handkerchieves to cover their faces and were given a pair of poor quality gloves and masks at the beginning of the lockdown.
There was no training conducted by municipal bodies on the precautionary measures sanitation workers should take during the pandemic, according to the analysis. Despite facing life risk, they came to work because they had families to support, the respondents said.
Safai Karamchari Andolan’s Bezwada Wilson said the current situation was a gross violation of human rights.“If governments can prioritize the health of other frontline workers, why are they not doing it for sanitation workers who are also performing skilled work? All essential services need to be treated as equal. This is a caste-based attitude as most people engaged in sanitation work are Dalits,” said Wilson.