Thirty-four-year-old M. Muniyan, a painter from Chetpet, would drop his mother M. Satya by cycle at her place of work, the Station Quarters, the official residential quarters for the armed forces attached to the Army Headquarters, at Fort St. George.
He would do it for two reasons — during the lockdown, there were no trains; and his mother would always reach her workplace on time.
A conservancy worker on daily wages, Satya, who passed away on April 3, would always make it a point to report for duty a few minutes ahead of the muster roll call at 6.30 a.m every day. She joined as a contract daily sanitary worker with the St. Thomas Mount and Pallavaram Cantonment Board seven years ago in 2013 under Widows Special Scheme.
“She was always an early bird in reaching her workplace. She would also be willing to attend to any extra work that may come up after her working hours ended at 2.30 p.m. Whatever work she undertook, she would do it with a smile,” recollects Satya's co-worker, 34-year-old A. Elangovan, who is also the secretary, Daily Wage Workers Union of the Board.
Except for provident fund (PF) and ESI facilities, daily contract workers of the Board are not eligible for any other employee benefits after retirement or sudden dismissal.
In fact, the Board also provides a Death Relief Fund for permanent staff who die in harness. Keeping these factors in mind, the daily wage earners of the Board came up with an initiative to donate one day's salary to Satya’s family. The initiative was also supported by H.M. Harsha, chief executive officer of the Board, taking note of the fact that daily contract workers, who are also the frontline workers in the lockdown period, are doing this.
“During the lockdown days, our staff especially conservancy workers never shunned work; they ensured cleanliness of the neighbourhoods they had been assigned,” says Peter Durairaj, senior health officer of the Board.
A total of 246 daily conservancy workers of the Board donated their day's income of ₹ 603 thereby mobilising a fund of ₹ 1,48, 482 for Satya’s family. Satya is the second beneficiary to get such assistance from their colleagues under the initiative. Another daily wage worker, R. Srinivasalu, was the first person to receive such assistance a year ago. Muniyan, Satya's son, received a cheque for the said amount from the Board’s CEO Harsh, a few days ago.
Divided into seven wards with a population of 46,000 persons, the Cantonment Board includes areas like Chennai Airport residential colony, Airport Authority of India (AAI) colony, Air India colony, Army Officers' Enclave, Usman Line, Post Office colony and Station Quarters at Fort St. George.