Journalism of Courage
Over 200 workers from Pimpri Chinchwad joined waste pickers on Saturday afternoon outside the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation office. The indefinite agitation entered the fourth day on Saturday. Despite threats and harassment from contractors,a large number of workers are speaking out,said Maitreyi Shankar,Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP) member. The wastepickers said PCMC is not responding to their desperate pleas.
Over the past 4 months,KKPKP has repeatedly brought to notice of the PCMC authorities that workers were being paid wages between Rs 50 and 100 per day instead of Rs 254 stipulated under the Minimum Wages Act. Having received no response from the PCMC,KKPKP decided to hold the indefinite dharna from March 20, said Laxmi Narayan,KKPKP member.
A private company has continued with its intimidation tactics and terminated a worker this morning without reason. She lodged a complaint with the Labour Welfare Officer of the PCMC, Shankar said.
The workers have not stopped waste collection though. We know that the lanes of our city remain clean because of work we do and stopping work for even a day could be disastrous, a waste picker said.
The drivers,who are part of the waste collection system under the contractors,expressed solidarity with them. Subhash Sarin,general secretary,PCMC Kamgaar Union issued a letter extending support. Action for the Rights of the Child (ARC),a network of groups working on child rights has also endorsed the demands of waste pickers. When livelihoods of parents are threatened,children are forced to drop out of schools, said a member of the governing body of ARC.
A team of wastepickers also met Labour Minister Hasan Mushrif and handed over a memorandum of their demands. The minister has issued a letter to the PCMC Commissioner to look into the matter immediately and ensure justice, Shankar said.
