Sanitary workers to go on strike

May 4, 2020, 04:01 IST

Coimbatore: More than 1,000 sanitary workers of the city corporation have decided to go on one-day strike on Monday demanding that they too should be tested for Covid-19. They have also demanded the state government to provide safety gears.
“Sanitary workers are highly prone to Covid-19 infection as they are working throughout the lockdown period and collecting garbage even from the containment zones. Also, as most of the workers are living either in housing units of the slum clearance board or at slums, the chances of ensuring social distancing between them is negligible and the infection could spread to others easily,” said R Ravi Kumar, general secretary of Adi Tamizhar Peravai, who had called for the strike.
Pointing out that most of the sanitary workers are residing at seven areas in the district, he said that even if a person is diagnosed with the infection, then the entire area would turn into a containment zone and even the other workers could not step out of their locality. It in turn would affect the corporation’s work to keep the city clean, he added.
Despite the risks, the state government has not tested most of the sanitary workers, he said, adding that they had given only medicines to boost their immunity power.
Also, no proper safety equipment including boots, head gear, gloves and masks and hand sanitizers were given to the workers, he said.
Pointing out that the central government has announced Rs 50 lakh insurance to the frontline workers in the view of Covid-19 pandemic, he said while several states including Kerala and Punjab had included sanitary workers in the frontline workers list, the Tamil Nadu government has not clarified its stand. “We request the state government to include sanitary workers in the list,” he added.