Ajay (left) and Jaswinder in Ludhiana. Gurmeet Singh
WITH NO set rules, a ‘practice’ has been going on for decades in municipal corporations: If a sewerman dies on duty, a relative, such as his brother or son, is given the job on compassionate grounds.
While earlier there used to be no protests or objections over this, now voices can be heard demanding qualification to be the criteria for job given on compassionate grounds as well.
Now, children of such sewer men, many of whom who are at least graduates, refuse to enter the manholes and clean them as their fathers had done till their death. They are now demanding that a job be given to them it is on the basis of their qualifications. They should not merely be posted as sewermen just because they are from certain communities and because their fathers had cleaned manholes.
Pursuing his graduation, Ajay Kumar (19) is a sewer man by profession in the records of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation. His father Sajjan (42) died while cleaning a sewer in Gandhi Nagar of Ludhiana in 2015.
In Class XII then, Ajay says he wasn’t aware that his father’s job was to “enter filthy manholes.” All he knew was that his father had a “sarkaari naukri” in ‘Nagar nigam’.
“Back home, he never told me or my two sisters that his government job in MC meant cleaning manholes and sewage. We would tell our friends in school that our father works in the civic body, nothing more than this. It was only when he died in overflowing sewage due to poisonous gas inhalation that we got to know what his work was. He kept going through hell each day without uttering a word at home,” says Ajay.
Getting a job at place of his father on ‘compassionate’ grounds, Ajay too was posted as a sewerman but he refused to enter gutters. “I did not pursue graduation to clean gutters. My father did this throughout his life for Rs 20,000 a month because he had no other option to raise his children. But I won’t do this,” says Ajay. The protest bore fruit and he was given office work even as his post still remains sewerman on paper.
Now getting Rs 4,900 per month, he, however, is not thinking about leaving this job. “After graduation, I will apply for higher designation as per my qualification in the civic body itself. Where is job security in the private sector that I can think of leaving this one? But under no circumstances will I enter gutters and go through living hell as my father,” says Ajay.
“Qualification should become the criteria for the post that is given to kin of deceased. Our aim is to keep children of sewermen away from this living hell. Sewer men keep doing this job so that they can educate their children. They want to keep their children away from this job. What is the use of their sacrifice if their children too are forced to jump into manholes. Why should children of dead sewermen clean dirt even if they are educated?,” questions Aman
Kumar, president, Sewerman Atey Karamchari Union, Ludhiana MC.
Almost six months after his father died while cleaning sewage lines in Nirankari Mohalla of Miller Ganj area of
Ludhiana, 20-year old Jaswinder Singh is waiting for his posting .
Continuing with his graduation (B.com), he has requested the civic body for a posting as ‘clerk’ or any designation as per his qualification but not sewerman.
“Who wants to do this work? My father never did this happily or willingly. He just wanted good education for me and my siblings. Yes, we knew he worked as a sewerman but nothing was discussed at home. He had kept two sets of clothes at office so that soiled clothes never entered home. I am pursuing my studies so that I can do something better in life,” says Jaswinder, son of Mehan Chand who died along with another sewerman Sonu in 2016.
‘Will fix policy soon’
Navjot Singh Sidhu, Punjab’s Minister for local bodies, admitted that there was a clear lack of policy for such cases. “We are understaffed and we desperately need qualified people to work for us. We will soon fix a policy for children of deceased sewermen and other employees so that their children get jobs as per their qualification. We will upgrade those who are working on positions lower than their qualifications,” said Sidhu.
Ludhiana Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria said, “One should be given the job without any bias linked to caste and purely on basis of qualification. We need a clear policy review
on this.”
