KOCHI: Sanitation workers, especially women dressed in blue overcoats, of Kochi Corporation are a common sight on the streets and bylanes of the city. However, it would be a rare sight to see a group of these women walking along the roads carrying heavy spraying equipment on a very serious mission to help eradicate the scourge of mosquitoes that has been plaguing the city.
These women were entrusted with the job of spraying insecticide in the drains and garbage heaps beside stagnant water after the men who had been doing the work for the civic body retired. Thirty-year-old Nija Sudheer, a resident of Paradise Nagar in Hamsakunju Lane, said, “The civic body has made up teams of five per division for the task. And most of the divisions under the civic body have women taking up the job of spraying the insecticide.”
“We have been doing this job for the past two months. This is a recent task that has been entrusted to us. We are usually involved in sanitation works like clearing the undergrowth and sweeping roadsides besides clearing trash,” said Nija. According to thirty-eight-year-old Manu Aneesh from Palluruthy, one of the reasons why men are not interested in taking up this work is the poor pay. “We are paid Rs 675 per day. And the funny part is that we never get the remuneration on time. Also, there is no job security,” she said.
According to the women, they are called in for a period of six months. “Once that time period is completed, we have to sit out. There is no guarantee that we will be called up again,” said Nija.
There are around 300 such daily wage workers contracted by the civic body to take care of the sanitation works in the areas under its jurisdiction.
“Some of the women working with us have been doing the job since 2016. We were told by the civic body that we would be absorbed into its workforce. But that never happened. Recently, it recruited people from the Employment Exchange. Yet again we were not considered. Even the revised pay has not been implemented,” said Manu.