Crèches for sanitary workers’ kids after video of child sitting on dustbin goes viral

COIMBATORE: Almost a week after the video of a sanitary worker’s child being seated on a dustbin while the mother swept the road near Valipalayam in Tirupur went viral on social media, the Tirupur corporation has reopened the crèches for sanitary workers’ children in the city.
A corporation official said, “The crèches, which are run by us along with the NGO SAVE, saw 11 children at Poyampalayam in zone 2 and 16 at Kovil Vazhi in zone 3 when they were reopened on Friday. Saturday also saw the same number of children in both the facilities.”
He said the children would be provided healthy food, including fruits and eggs, twice a day. “Precautionary measures like physical distancing and wearing of face masks are followed at the crèches.”
The official said the crèches, which were inaugurated about two years ago, were temporarily closed in March following the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Tirupur corporation said they had recruited contract sanitary workers for zone 2 and 3 as the number of permanent workers was less.
“We have provided them safety gear and instructed them to follow the government guidelines for keeping Covid-19 at bay,” it said in a press statement.
It also clarified that the video was taken when the worker was returning to her house after completing work.
“We have issued a notice to the concerned contractor, who was also directed to ensure that the workers wear safety gear.”