In an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a coalition of organisations of waste pickers and sanitation workers has reiterated their demand for guarantee of basic hygiene facilities and income in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The letter, by the Alliance of Indian Wastepickers (AIW) asks the PM to ensure their safety as they are the first lines of defence against the spread of the disease, and presents a list of 7 demands made by the workers.
This includes a basic emergency monthly income of Rs 10,000 for every household, rations, and compensation to their families, such as that given to victims of rail accidents, in case of fatality related to COVID-19. AIW is a coalition of organisations that represent waste pickers and sanitation workers from 10 states across the country, and has more than 45,000 members.
They said, “We the members of the Alliance of Indian Wastepickers, welcome your address to the nation given on 19th March 2020, where you called sanitation workers defenders of the nation. For earning our livelihood, we waste-pickers and informal waste collectors have been keeping our cities and towns clean. In the times of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are working diligently. Even though the prices of the commodities i.e. waste paper, plastic, cardboard, junk and metal have gone down significantly, we have not left our work.”
“As defenders, we are equally vulnerable to contracting the disease ourselves. Due to the nature of the work, many of our colleagues -- waste-pickers and informal waste collectors -- have low immunity. We earn our livelihood on a day to day basis, this does not leave us with the luxury of working from home. In the times of pandemic, when we must wash our hands with soaps but we do not have access to regular and clean water,” they demanded.
The seven demands of the associations have been reproduced below:
1. Provisioning occupational safety gears - good quality masks, gloves, towels, shoes to all the waste-pickers and informal waste collectors. All urban and rural local bodies, resident and apartment welfare associations should be directed to make them available at all times.
2. All urban and rural local bodies, as well as resident and apartment welfare associations, should be asked to make necessary arrangements for waste-pickers and informal waste collectors to wash their hands. The provision of sanitisers for workers where washing of hands is not possible must be made mandatory.
3. With the waste material markets collapsing across the country, there has been a loss of income. We request that all waste-pickers and informal waste collectors be given emergency basic income of INR 10,000 per month per household.
4. Similarly, ration (including grains, soap/hand sanitizer, oil, sugar and salt) which can sustain the waste-pickers and informal waste collectors and their families and all residents of the slums and other informal settlements, for the next three months should be given immediately, without the requirement of biometrics via the Public Distribution System. The government must take action against the price rise of essential commodities, food items and medicines.
5. The settlements of waste-pickers and informal waste collectors are densely populated and the residents highly vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19, we strongly recommend that the government should arrange regular health camps for screening and medication purposes in all the slums and other informal settlements.
6. There must be an immediate suspension of all eviction, demolitions and urgent regularisation of all our settlements. Measures should be taken for providing clean water, electricity and sanitation in our settlements. Charges for using public toilets and urinals should be removed and the toilets and urinals are cleaned regularly. They should be equipped with soaps, refilled every day by the local bodies, or resident/apartment complexes.
7. In case of fatality related to COVID-19, the compensation similar to the one is given for rail accident casualties or for the onsite death of a construction worker or INR 10,00,000 should be given to next of kin as demanded by many informal (unorganised) workers unions.