Coimbatore: The civic body has declared the city open defecation-free. But in its backyard at Sriram Nagar near Vellalore dump yard around 50 families defecate in the open. That’s not all. These families,
comprising nearly 50 children,
live amidst filth and garbage, while the city corporation boasts of having bettered its Swachh Survekshan ranking under the smart city project.
The women, men and children in the area say they are forced to defecate in the open as there are no community toilets near their locality. These people are allegedly employed by the corporation contractor incharge of solid waste management to collect plastic, paper, iron and other resaleable items from the waste.
H Kailash, one of the rag pickers, said they had been living in the area for more than a year. “We are form Badwani Jilla near Indore in Madhya Pradesh. We are asked to pick resaleable items from the waste and give it to the contractor. Sometimes, we get paid Rs 800 and at times just Rs 300,” he said.
These rag pickers have set up temporary houses made of asbestos. They neither have water nor toilet facilities. Arthi, another rag picker with an infant, said they were left to quench their thirst with the water from roadside taps and cook food with the groceries brought from their home town. “We all have farmlands in our villages, but lack of water forced us to shift to new locations. We have no other choice but to live like this,” she said.
According to Arthi, they walk nearly 6-10km every morning to collect resaleable items from the waste. “It is not compulsory for us to go every day. We will get paid only for the items we pick,” she said.
The rag pickers said they were employed by a company named KCP Engineers Private Limited. But when the company owners were contacted, they said they had not employed anyone to collect resaleable items from the waste.
Coimbatore Integrated Waste Management company that composts at the yard, meanwhile, said they have employed 120 people and they were on roll and lived inside the dump yard. “They are employed for segregation and not for picking resaleable items from the waste. We have provided them all facilities and they are even paid provident fund,” said one of its owners.
Corporation officials said they were unaware of the issue.