Swachh workers claim they are forced to collect garbage in bags as plastic buckets not provided

PUNE Swachh employees have alleged that the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) did not provide plastic buckets for them to collect the garbage and as a result, they were forced to collect garbage in bags made of cloth or plastic for the past two years. The employees claimed that many a time leakage from this garbage spilled on their clothes, soiling them.

According to these Swachh employees, while the PMC collects garbage from the citizens’ doorsteps with their help, it does not provide them with safety gear for which they previously staged agitations in front of the PMC headquarters. They claimed that the PMC had not provided them with plastic buckets for the past many months and these buckets were helpful in collecting wet garbage.

Asha Shinde said, “I have a single bucket but it got damaged. I am collecting garbage in bags which I found in the garbage. The bags get wet and many a time, the leakage spills on my clothes and soils them. I have to wash my sari immediately after finishing work.”

Another worker on condition of anonymity said, “We are not doing this work happily. Who would want to do such work of collecting garbage from door to door. Many a time, the garbage is not segregated and we have to segregate it. Earlier, we had buckets but for the past one-and-a-half year, we do not have buckets. I collect garbage in bags and carrying these bags is also difficult.”

Yet another worker requesting anonymity said, “I did not have a bucket and started collecting the garbage in bags in some societies. However, as the lift was getting dirty due to the leakage from the garbage, members of the society came forward and gave me a plastic bucket. Earlier we used to approach corporators who would ensure we got buckets…”

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Hemant Rasane who had taken the initiative to clean the Kasba Peth assembly constituency and recently led a tour of Indore city for employees of the solid waste management department said, “I will check with the administration about this situation. I will ask them when was the last time they provided buckets to the workers. If the workers have not been given buckets, I will follow up with the administration for the same.”

Mukund Barve, executive engineer, solid waste management department, said, “The PMC had provided buckets to workers in some areas two years ago. In some areas, buckets were not provided but we are making budgetary provision for the same in the coming budget and buckets will be distributed to all those who haven’t got them…”

A PMC employee on condition of anonymity said, “It is a common trend in the civic body for politicians and senior office-bearers to follow up on only those issues where they get some commission. They are not interested in the common man’s problems. But it is very important not to mention how bad it looks for employees to carry garbage in bags every morning. No developing country would have such a situation.”