Sanitation Workers Across the Country Protest for Minimum Wages

Amidst the Centre gearing up for the Swachhta Survey 2018 under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, hundreds of sanitation workers across different parts of the country have marked their protest demanding minimum wages stipulated for the respective urban local bodies. 

On Wednesday, hundreds of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) workers demonstrated a protest in the city demanding minimum wages stipulated for urban local bodies. Along with minimum wages, the workers also demanded same-pay-for-same-work and job regularization. The workers who are working in the various sewage plants in the city took part in the protest. There are around 700 workers in 36 treatment plants in the city itself. 

One of the workers Hanumantharayappa, who had come to protest, said that he has been working at KR Puram Sewage Treatment Plant for 12 years and gets only Rs 8,760 per month. After deducting ESI and PF from his salary he gets only Rs 7,200 per month. Pointing out the difficulties of contract workers, he said that regular employees who did the same job before them got Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000.

The workers have to do wastewater management treatment, treat the sludge with bare hands, get into sumps that are 12 to 14 feet deep with very poor safety gears and at times without any kind of safety gears also, he pointed out. 

“The operation and maintenance of the KR Puram plant have been given to Manjunath Enterprises. They pass the buck to BWSSB and the Board, in turn, blames the private company who has got the tender to operate”, he said.

Pointing out the Contract Workers (Regulation and Abolition) Act, the workers demanded that we want to be paid the wages which we are entitled to, regularised and want the contract system itself to be abolished. 

On the other hand, at Bathinda in Punjab, raising the demands of the workers, a few members of the Sanitation workers’ Union refused to act as per the wishes of government, which they have implemented keeping in view the upcoming Swachhta Survey 2018. 

The union of workers also warned the government that they would stage a protest against the government if they are not ready to meet their long-pending demands. 

The Swachhta Survey 2018 or Swachh Survekshan 2018, the third cleanliness survey, was introduced in by the Centre in July aims to rank 4,041 cities and towns in the country with a revised methodology.

Under the survey, 500 cities with more than 1 lakh population and state and Union Territory capitals will be ranked based on 71 sanitation-related parameters. Along with this 3,541 cities with less than 1 lakh population will have state and zonal rankings.