MARGAO
A swanky Duster car for the Margao Municipal Council Chairperson, Maruti SX 4 vehicle for the Chief Officer and an Ertiga for the Municipal Engineer. Besides, Maruti Wagon Rs and jeeps are ready to transport municipal engineers and officials for their official work.
What about the toiling field workers, many of whom slog on the field to lift dozens of bins laden with garbage for want of compactors or vehicles with hydraulic lifting facility? For months now many of the field workers have been physically lifting the waste bins to unload them in the municipal trucks to keep the city clean and garbage free. Not only this group of workers come in direct contact with the waste day in and out, but reports indicate that many of them are suffering from
back problems and orthopaedic issues.
Inquiries by The Goan have revealed that the Margao municipality has purchased only a lone hydraulic garbage compactor last year when the requirement was pegged at minimum five. The last time the civic body purchased garbage compactors was eight years ago in 2011.
Of the total fleet of five compactors, one compactor is down in the garage with a technical snag, while the remaining four are deployed along the main route for quick lifting and disposal of the waste.
The question that has remained unanswered is simple: Why is the municipality dragging its feet on procuring additional compactors when it is flush with funds from the 14th Finance Commission. Municipal Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai has been on record in 2018 that the municipality will receive two brand new compactors to streamline garbage collection in the city and also provide relief to the field workers.
When The Goan called up the Chairperson to shed light on her promise, she attributed the delay in purchasing compactors to the technical issues raised by the municipal technical section. In fact, Babita pointed out that the civic body has only dispatched a fresh proposal to the Director of Municipal Administration for procuring two garbage compactors and three trucks under the 14th Finance Commission.
“I fully agree and sympathize with the hardships faced by the garbage field workers who physically lift the loaded bins into the trucks. This has to stop and the municipality has now sent a proposal to the DMA’s office for a nod to procure two additional compactors,” she added.
Babita conceded that many of the field workers are now plagued by orthopaedic problems, especially back pain, while discharging their duties on the field.
“I know how painful it is when one is down with a back pain. It is sad to know that some of these workers have a back problem,” she said, while admitting that it is the responsibility of the civic body to take good care of its workers.
The chairperson further said the technical experts will have to put in place an alternate for lifting of waste into the trucks if they feel that garbage compactors may be rendered redundant in the event household waste gets segregated at source.
