Meet the 'Superheroes' who get us out of the 'Mess' But Remain a Forgotten Lot
CHENNAI: “Our votes count, we don’t,” she says while flinging another cover of waste into her pushcart, all the while refusing to pose for a photo. She is one of the hundreds of such people employed by conservancy agencies across the city to keep clean the streets, where the affluent live. At a time when political discussions render hot cups of tea cold by their length, a section of the society silently goes about its business of cleaning others’ mess, seldom figuring in discourses, untouched and uncared for.
“We live constantly amid household refuse, and have become just that,” adds her husband. While all political parties have unleashed another barrage of promises — from clean roads and drains to smart cities — in the run-up to the polls, the conservancy workers, who risk their lives to make it happen under unhygienic conditions, are a forgotten lot. “Everyone wants their vicinity clean, but if we don’t turn up for a day, they have no qualm dumping the waste on an empty plot,” adds the man, wiping his brow. Though these conservancy workers are a vital cog in the societal wheel, no one raises issues close to their hearts: dignified working condition and pay consistent with the workload.
Their day begins as early as five in the morning, with the ritual of cleaning their smelly pushcart. Then they go on their rounds, shouting and whistling in the neighbourhood to alert the residents about their arrival. Despite the unhygienic nature of their work, their employers rarely bother to equip them with safety gears, as mandated by the government. Apart from the yearly apron from their employers, safety equipment are unknown. Using bare hands, they sift through household refuse, before segregating them. Later, the waste is accumulated in an empty area, from where a truck picks the garbage up for its onward journey to a dumpyard on the banks of Chitlapakkam lake.
During the December floods, when the water from the lake inundated most of the residential areas in Sharma Nagar, Chitlapakkam and Abraham Lincoln Street among other places, the spate brought along with it the waste that was dumped on the lake bank. While the stench was unbearable, it also was unhygienic, says a resident. That was when the conservancy workers stood up to be counted. They started their rounds earlier than usual, sometimes in knee-deep water, collecting waste from houses and even clearing those strewn on roads. The inspiration: paltry pay and the satisfaction that they were helping out.
However, the taxing and unforgiving schedule took a heavy toll on the health of the most. “My husband was down with fever a whole fortnight. When we knocked on the doors of the neighbourhoods we did our rounds in for financial help, most shooed us away,” she says. When asked whom they would vote for, her husband said, “We have no idea. Moreover, nobody is bothered about us, so why bother?”
However, they too have a wish list at the ready: regulation of working hours, which, at present, vaguely states the time taken to collect the waste; better pay; education opportunities for their children and medical facilities. While the discussion over hot cup of tea rages, spare a thought for these conservancy workers, whose presence is felt only when they are absent.