Activists advocating for better working conditions for sanitation workers in Bengaluru have alleged that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) apathy is risking the lives of many pourakarmikas by not arranging safe transportation for them during the lockdown.
On April 8, eleven pourakarmikas who work in the Byatarayanapura ward met with an accident after a vehicle they were travelling turned turtle on Yelahanka Main Road.
Among the 11, two are still being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) as they suffered severe head injuries. Five of them are being treated for severe injuries on their face and other parts of the body, including one person who broke his spine. The other four have been discharged.
Lekha Adavi, a lawyer and member of the BBMP Pourakarmikara Sangha, said, “For one of the patients in the ICU, the doctor said that as a result of the accident his brain may have moved. The other patient in the ICU, a woman, is not conscious yet. Other injuries sustained by the workers include a brain contusion [a traumatic brain injury] and also a broken collarbone. Another person's entire face is cut.”
Bengaluru Mayor Goutham Kumar visited them in the hospital on Friday and assured that the civic body will continue to pay for their treatment.
While the Pourakarmika Sangha says that the workers were being dropped home in an auto tipper used to collect garbage from households, BBMP Special Commissioner for Waste Management D Randeep denied this.
He claimed that an overcrowded auto-rickshaw led to the severity of the accident.
Lekha questioned BBMP’s inaction in letting the workers to be transported like cattle, especially after the BBMP told the Karnataka High Court that they will arrange transport for these workers during the lockdown.
She said, “In a lot of areas, including the Mayor’s ward (Jogupalya), workers who stay in Whitefield and other far off areas are travelling in the same auto tipper used to collect garbage. This is why we had demanded that they are given a dignified transport option, but the BBMP said they were giving them Rs 100 as daily travel allowance.”
This submission from the BBMP to the HC came as part of the case filed by the Pourakarmika Sangha seeking protective gear and other protection for the workers in light of the pandemic.
Special Commissioner for Waste Management Randeep also told TNM that transport was being arranged by ward-level officers wherever required and there was no such issue as there is an average attendance of more than 85%.
In a statement, the Sangha said, “The BBMP must learn from the experience of Mumbai, where a sanitation worker living in Dharavi slum has been tested positive for COVID-19 and ensure proper protection of workers. However, unfortunately, not only are the workers being made to travel in garbage vehicles, there is a severe shortage of safety equipment and disinfectants being provided for them.”
“They are collecting unsegregated garbage from the streets and homes of quarantined people. Despite having announced rules to the general public on segregation of PPEs, the workers continue to work in hazardous and dangerous conditions,” the statement added.