Cleanliness workers toiling under pathetic conditions

By CT reporter
MANGALORE : There are hundreds of poor men and women who work as waste disposal labourers under the contractors within the the city corporation limits. But, the plight of these labourers who work under abject pitiable conditions, is heartening.
They work sans raincoat, rain shoes, gloves etc. The contractors who have the responsibility of providing these facilities to the labourers, have however shunned from their repsonsibilites. The result -these poor labourers, clear the garbage bins as well as the wastes scattered around and dump the same in the vehicles, least bothered about the drastic consequences to their health, owing exposure to the wastes which sometimes turn toxic.
The labourers have to bear the unbearable stench and the filth and remove them with some broom sometimes even by hands sans handgloves . Though rules make these facilities mandatory, the poor workers are deprived of the same as the contractors aremainly interested in filling their own pockets rather than the safety of the labourers.
It is a tragedy is that the sad plight of these labourers has not even caught the attention of the corporation officials or rather they have preferred to turn a blind eye to the same. At the same time there remains a doubt if the officials have entered into a nexus with the contractors. The city corporation must keep its eyes wide open to the pitiable condition of the cleanliness workers and see that the contractors provide them the facilities due to them.