Contract sanitary workers clean sewer with bare hands in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: Some contract sanitary workers with the city corporation were found cleaning an open sewer with bare hands at Parvathipuram at BK Pudur in the city on Monday.
Following complaints that the sewer on ward 91 in the south zone was clogged, corporation officials had asked the sanitary workers to unclog the same manually without providing them any safety gears, instead of using suction-cum-jetting machines, said R Tamil Nadu Selvam, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Ambedkar Sanitary Workers’ Association.
“It is not a lone case. Similar incidents have been taking place across the city limits. When sanitary supervisors ask the workers to clean the sewers and threaten not to give other works if they fail to do it, how will the latter refuse to do it? After all, their livelihood is dependent on it,” he said.
He said the corporation had not distributed proper safety gears to all, despite several requests to distribute the same to both the permanent and temporary sanitary workers. Most of the times, he said, the workers fail to wash their hands properly after completing their works because of lack of facilities. “So, they develop several health complications.”
C Venmani, an advocate-cum-activist, said it was the responsibility of the state government to take steps to abolish manual scavenging and strict action against those who employ them. “Awareness should be created among the sanitary workers regarding the ill-effects of manually cleaning the sewer without any safety gears. Both the government and the workers should work together to abolish the system.”
When contacted, city corporation commissioner Raja Gopal Sunkara said the issue was already brought to their knowledge and the city health officer was inquiring into the issue.
“We have been distributing rubber gloves to the workers once in a few months. We would conduct an inquiry to know whether it’s a case of not distributing the safety gears in certain parts or workers not using them. Based on the report, action will be taken,” he said.