BMC pushes kids down the dump

MUMBAI, Jan 13: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC may have permanent employees assigned the work of unloading garbage trucks at D...

MUMBAI, Jan 13: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC may have permanent employees assigned the work of unloading garbage trucks at Deonar dumping ground, but in reality, the job is done by minor children staying nearby. The children, as young as eight to 10 years old, are paid a meagre Rs five per truck.

According to BMC rules, each truck is supposed to have six labourers, apart from the driver and the cleaner. But these employees are frequently absent from work, and children hanging around the ground are given the job. An employee at the dumping ground said the six BMC employees collect the amount and give it to the children to do the work.

When this reporter visited the ground, most of the trucks had just one or two labourers. Some of them didn8217;t have any, and the drivers were at a loss to offer an explanation.

8220;Six of them dumped the garbage in the truck at the place it was picked from. Now the one or two labourers present here will do the unloading,8221; a driver said.

Though the children accompanied the trucks to the dumping ground, municipal employees denied the kids were used for unloading. 8220;They come to the ground to collect metal and plastic,8221; an official said. Officials allow the trucks carrying children to enter the ground for a bribe of Rs 10 per truck. All formalities are completed, all labourers are marked present and the truck is allowed to pass without verifying if it8217;s properly filled.

Most trucks that entered when this reporter was present weren8217;t full, though the BMC8217;s guidelines say they have to be. But the officials turned a blind eye to this. The children were too scared to talk, and when questioned, were sternly threatened by officials to leave the place. Standing committee members Ravindra Pawar and Digambar Kandarkar, who were present at the ground, caught some of the drivers slipping notes into employees8217; hands. In no time, the message was passed on to other drivers, and suddenly the money and the children disappeared from the scene.

Even security guards here don8217;t bother. Though every visitor is questioned, the children are allowed to wander freely on the 250-acre land, while the women who come to pick metal, plastic and other objects are fined Rs 30 and given a bill of Rs 20.