NIZAMABAD: Long gone are the days when people used to look down upon sanitation jobs. Now, scores of unemployed people, including youngsters, are running from pillar to post seeking employment as sanitation workers in the Nizamabad Municipal Corporation (NMC) limits.
As the job comes with a decent daily wage and also provides benefits such as Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) and Provident Fund (PF), hundreds of unemployed persons have started coming forward seeking the job.
According to sources, this trend started after the Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration (CDMA) granted permission to the local bodies concerned to entrust contractors with the task of taking up sanitation works such as cleaning of drains, and collection and shifting of garbage from all divisions in NMC.
According to official sources, the NMC has 800 sanitation workers, including outsourced ones. Apart from this, the Corporation needs 60 drivers and 330 more workers.
In light of this, the NMC recently decided to seek the help of contractors and hire the required number of workers through them.
Since the Covid-19 outbreak had a telling effect on all sectors and pushed the economy to the brink, several people, including youngsters, were left jobless during the lockdown. In this scenario, people are going all out to ensure at least a contract job, hoping that it would help them, eventually, in fetching a permanent job in the NMC.
Surprisingly, Express found that these unemployed persons are even approaching certain ‘influential’ persons for recommendations to the vacancies of sanitation workers.
According to sources, a sanitation worker hired through contracts will get around Rs 467 in hand, after PF and ESI deductions.