FPJ Impact: Contractors Penalised After Workers Found Desilting Drains Without Safety Gear In Mira-Bhayandar

Mira Bhayandar: Almost immediately after The Free Press Journal exposed the inhumane act of contractors deploying sanitation workers in the undignified and dangerous task of desilting drains sans protective gear, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) swung into action and issued show cause notices to both the contractors on Wednesday. This is apart from slapping fines amounting to Rs 20,000 each.

Armed with photographic evidence, the FPJ had had exposed how the contractual workers were compelled to manually clean drains without any personal protective equipment (PPE) such as hand gloves, gumboots, face masks or medical-aid kits during the de-silting operations which not only posed a serious threat to their health, but is also a brazen violation of the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Management Rules, 2016 and Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (MS Act, 2013).  

At some of the spots, the workers were seen entering toxic and life-threatening environments like drains. “Apart from imposing monetary penalties on both contractors, we have issued notices warning them of more serious consequences if such violations are found to be repeated. Our sanitary inspectors have also been instructed to keep an eye on the activities, ” confirmed Additional Municipal Commissioner Sachin Bangar.

The MBMC has divided 24 administrative wards into two zones while inking garbage lifting and cleanliness contracts with two separate agencies. While the contracts carry an annual price tag of Rs 64 crore and Rs 92 crore respectively, the collective value of the five-year tender is pegged at more than Rs 750 crore.

The scope of work includes- daily clean-up, bi-monthly drain desilting, lifting of garbage, and ferrying it to the dump yard. The contractual agencies claimed to have hired 1,805 sanitation workers and deployed 157 vehicles, including compactors and garbage tippers, with segregated waste collection. However, at most of the place’s sanitation workers can be seen collecting the garbage and tossing it into the vans with their bare hands.