CUTTACK: Hundreds of sanitation workers employed by Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) in 19 wards continue to lift domestic waste with their bare hands, even during the Covid-19 pandemic. Unmindful of the health risks associated with it, the Swachha Karmis carry on with the job without any protective gear. They even struggle to push rickety wheelbarrow trolleys for lifting garbage from residential areas to the dumping yard.The CMC has engaged around 300 Swachha Karmis in its 19 wards. The rest 40 wards are being managed by private agencies.
A Swachha Karmi, who lifts waste into the barrow and moves it to a bin in ward no.18, alleged non-availability of protective gears and non-maintenance of wheelbarrow trolleys despite requests. For him, shifting of garbage is more exertive than sweeping the street and collecting waste due to damaged wheelbarrow trolley. As a result, he has to apply more force to drag the damaged wheelbarrow till the dumping yard located about 500 metre away.
“I have been urging the multi-purpose health worker (MPHW) of our locality for the last seven months to provide a new wheelbarrow trolley, but to no avail,” he alleged.Another sanitation worker said, “Beside the defunct wheel, the base of my wheelbarrow trolley has been damaged and dotted with holes. I have been facing uphill task towards shifting the filthy thrash which are often falling down from the trolley.”
Deputy Commissioner (Sanitation) Sanjibita Ray said an order has been placed with the Odisha Small Industries Corporation Ltd (OSIC) to provide compartment-based wheelbarrow trolleys for collecting solid and organic waste. But the OSIC failed to provide the equipment on time with a plea that it could not procure the material from Nagpur due to shutdown imposed in view of the pandemic, he added,“We have placed a fresh order to the OSIC to provide 400 normal wheelbarrow trolleys immediately,” said Ray.