Schoolboy, 8, asked to clean Covid centre’s toilet in Maharashtra

NAGPUR: An 8-year-old schoolboy was asked to clean the toilet of the Covid Care Centre (CCC) being established in a government school at Marodi village in Sangrampur tehsil of Buldhana district on June 1. Gram sevak Mukinda Shivade of the village was suspended after the video of the boy cleaning the dirty toilet while some senior persons looked on went viral on social media.
On Thursday, Buldhana ZP CEO Bhagyashree Vispute also suspended school headmaster Mahendra Rothe and assistant teacher Mukund Narote. “Action has been taken on three persons so far. Investigation is still under way and report of district-level officials is yet to be received,” said Vispute.
Buldhana collector S Ramamurthi said that a committee has been formed to investigate the matter and it will submit report on June 4. This means some more officials could face disciplinary action.
Sources told TOI authorities were converting a government school at village Marodi into a CCC after 15 Covid patients were detected in the village. As the authorities could not find a labourer to clean the toilet, they asked this schoolboy to do the work. Sources said the now suspended headmaster and teacher insisted that this boy clean the toilet. A local villager, Bhau Bhojne, has also launched a police complaint against the authorities after the video went viral.
As the video received angry responses, the administration swung into action. Tehsildar Tejashree Kore asked for a report from block development officer Sanjay Patil. In his report, gram sevak Mukinda Shivade was held responsible resulting in his suspended.
Political leaders also expressed anger on the viral video. BJP’s Chitra Wagh said a schoolboy cleaning toilet was not only against the law but also against humanity. “I appeal to the district guardian minister to take stern action against the culprits,” Wagh said.
Buldhana is the third worst-hit district due to Covid-19 after Nagpur and Amravati in Vidarbha region. The district has more than 85,000 cases, and 600+ deaths due to Covid-19. The district was badly hit in the second wave as cases are coming from rural and tribal regions of Buldhana.
In the last two weeks, cases have gone down in the city and tehsil headquarters. Now, a majority of cases is coming from rural regions. As a result, schools and community halls in villages are being converted into temporary CCCs. As gram panchayats are allowed to spend 25% of their sanctioned funds on the development of CCCs, many villages have started developing their own CCCs in rural Maharashtra now.
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