They too deserve a round of applause

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As most of the people stay indoors to prevent the risk of contracting COVID-19, there is a group of unsung heroes who are working on the frontlines of the crisis. Hundreds of sanitation workers are putting their lives at risk everyday to do their part in curbing the spread of the 
pandemic. Despite all odds, including lack of transportation, they turn up for work without fail to ensure the city is spick and span 

Sheela leaves the streets clean 

For Sheela Rani, a sanitation worker in Neyyattinkara municipality, lockdown days are like any other work day. Except that she has to rely on kind neighbours to help her reach her workplace almost 10km away from her house at Ashramam near Plamuttukada. Her primary job over the past few days has been cleaning roads and other public spaces. Interestingly, Sheela and her co-workers find numerous masks laying about on streets while on duty. 

“We see a lot of masks on road and dispose them of. They make a major chunk of the waste we collect. Post clean-up, the waste is loaded into the corporation vehicles. All of us wear gloves and masks while at work and use handwash and sanitiser. We have been given strict instructions about hygiene practices. We have also been provided all necessary protective equipment by the municipality,” said Sheela who supports a family of three.

Manju sweeps a mile

Manju M sweeps the streets everyday to keep the city clean in the midst of the pandemic. Despite the lack of transportation, Manju, a sanitation worker, walks nearly four kilometres  everyday to report at the health circle office of the city corporation at Jagathy.“I start from my home in Mudavanmugal at 6.15am so that I can reach the office on time. It is a 45-minute walk. We are not allowed to take a leave because of the Covid-19 situation,” said Manju.

“Two of us are assigned at each stretch for cleaning. We finish our job by 1pm. The task gets tiring during the summer and because most shops are shut due to the lockdown, it is impossible to get drinking water or tea while we work. Sometimes we knock at houses for water but many are reluctant because we pick garbage. However, there are a few considerate ones,” said Manju, who laments that the work rendered by sanitation workers is not acknowledged like that of police or hospital staff. “We also work on the frontline braving the scary situation,” she added.

This 50-year-old is the waste warrior of Poojapura

Mangali P, a 50-year-old sanitation worker with the corporation, has been busy ever since the lockdown. She is one of the two sanitation workers who are stationed at corporation’s waste collection point at Poojapura. She has been working tirelessly at the collection point, without taking a day off during the lockdown period. 

“The male workers who are usually stationed at the waste collection points are working for the community kitchens. Hence, we have been given duty in the collection zones,” says Mangali. She undertakes a half an hour walk daily from her residence at Mudavanmugal to reach the collection point at 12pm. She then works for around six hours, segregating and storing the waste. “People come here frequently to dispose of waste. A truck owned by the corporation comes to carry away the waste,” she says. 

The fear of the pandemic has not stopped corporation workers from doing their job, she opines. 
“I’m not tense about the situation as everyone wears proper masks while doing their work. So far, none of the sanitation workers have had any trouble due to the Covid-19 spread. I will be resuming cleaning work once the lockdown is lifted,” she adds. A Valiyasala native, she stays with her family at a rented house in Mudavanmugal.

Jayakumaran’s undying resolve

The anxiety of working on the frontlines amid the pandemic did not deter this 58-year-old from doing his job. Jayakumaran Nair, a sanitation worker for nearly two decades with the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, is primarily involved in waste collection and disinfecting the Covid-19 care centre at Mar Ivanios College, one of the quarantine facilities opened by the district authorities. Jayakumaran has been working day and night for the past 30 days to ensure safety standards are kept at the quarantine facility, where hundreds of Covid-19 suspected patients spend their days in isolation. 

Being one among the eight sanitation workers deployed at the camp, Jayakumaran doesn’t mind working those extra hours to do his bit to curb the spread of the deadly virus. “We experienced similar situations in the past during the Nipah scare and the flood of 2018. I get anxious when I listen to the news. Being a sanitation worker, I am bound to do my duty around the year–whether it’s dengue, chikungunya, leptospirosis or Covid-19,” said Jayakumaran. 

“I wake up at 5am and report for work at 5.30am everyday. We remove the garbage and disinfect the place every time a person leaves from quarantine. Unlike my normal routine, which ends around noon, I now work till 9pm or stay back as long as my services are required,” adds Jayakumaran.

Lockdown or not, Krishnakumari gives it her all

Krishnakumari is a familiar face for Karamana residents as she has been collecting wastes from houses around the Sathyavageeswara Temple for years. Employed at a private firm which collects waste materials near the Karamana area, the 60-year-old begins her work at 7am.“I started working from April 5 after the lockdown was declared,” says Krishnakumari, the sole earning member in her family.

Earlier, waste was also collected from the garbage bins placed in designated places. “However, after the lockdown outsiders too began dumping the waste in these bins. As a result, residents have stopped us from placing the bins in these designated areas. So, currently, the bins are kept in places that are far,” she says.

Being a native of Thaliyal, she doesn’t need to commute much for daily work. On average, she earns `10,000-12,000 per month. “Earnings will be less this month. I hope everything will be back to normal after the lockdown period,” she adds.

Ready to take on any challenge

Sajimon’s daily work involves segregating the plastic bottles and covers from the city waste, filling them in sacks and loading them into corporation trucks. Sajimon S is a sanitation worker who is posted at the waste collection point in Thamalam. “I also worked at the community kitchen in Mudavanmugal during initial days of the lockdown. Buying groceries from shops and transporting the food parcels were my main tasks then,” he says. Around 25 people including some officials and sanitation workers like Sajimon had worked in tandem at the community kitchen to ensure timely delivery of food parcels. 

Sajimon was a daily wage labourer before becoming a corporation employee. Three years into his job as a sanitation worker, the 40-year-old has worked at multiple locations in the city due to the nature of his job. “We work on a contract  basis and are posted to different locations as per the requirement by our superiors,” he said. Wary of the Covid-19 threat, Sajimon is cautious and uses sanitisers and masks for protection while doing his job. Although the lockdown has not brought any changes to his duty timings, Sajimon adds that he might be called upon to do extra work, when required. “Emergency work such as cleaning the main roads are mainly done by us during the lockdown,” he said.

His chance to serve society

Mukkola native Jayachandran T can be seen actively involved in cleaning work around Vizhinjam ward with other corporation workers. He has been working without leave after the lockdown was announced, yet says he’s enjoying work. His work routine starts at 7am from the community kitchen where he’s in charge of cleaning plates and packing food for people. He then heads to different wards in Vizhinjam and starts collecting waste. 

“Normally, poultry and other wastes are dumped along the roads in the morning. Now with the shops closed and people in their homes, the area is comparatively clean,” says Jayachandran. However, they have longer duty hours ever since the lockdown was declared. “I’m enjoying it. It’s a chance to serve the society. It’s our responsibility to keep our place clean and safe, which is essential now,” he says. Jayachandran is the sole breadwinner of a family of six.