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Manual scavenging: Punjab State Safai Karamchari Commission chairman moves high court
The move comes after authorities at local and state level allegedly failed to act against the MC officials, who had ‘forced’ sewermen to enter manholes to clean a sewer
Alleging that the authorities at the local as well as state level had failed to act against municipal corporation (MC) officials involved in forcing sanitation workers to manually clear a sewer in the Jugiana area without safety kits on July 16, Gejja Ram Valmiki, chairman of Punjab State Safai Karamchari Commission, has moved a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The petition has been filed against the state of Punjab through its chief secretary as a party to the case among 11 others including the additional chief secretary, home department; director general of police; chief secretary, local bodies department; Ludhiana deputy commissioner; Ludhiana commissioner of police; Ludhiana additional deputy commissioner of police, Ludhiana municipal corporation, Ludhiana joint commissioner; sub-divisional magistrate; deputy superintendent of police and station house officer of Sahnewal police station.
MC employees tell mayor to take up matter with state govt
This triggered anxiety among MC employees, following which members of the Municipal Employees Sangharsh Committee met mayor Balkar Sandhu at the MC Zone-D office on Tuesday. The employees demanded that the mayor take up the matter with the state government and resolve the issue, otherwise, the union will be forced to raise an agitation.
Jasdev Sekhon, president of the union, said that the MC employees are not at fault, as the sewermen were not forced to enter the manhole by them and steps being taken by the commission’s chairman are harming their health and morale.
“We have urged the mayor to take up the matter at the state level and resolve it. No action should be taken against the MC employees otherwise, the union will raise an agitation,” said Sekhon.
Meanwhile, chairman Gejja Ram stated that action will be taken against all employees concerned. “The petition has been filed in the court as officials have failed to take action. The sewermen were forced to enter the manholes to clean the sewer lines without safety kits,” he said.
Geja Ram had submitted a complaint with local and state authorities seeking an FIR against the MC executive engineer, junior engineer and sub-divisional officer for allegedly forcing the sewermen to enter manholes without safety kits in Jugiana area on July 16.
On July 27, the officials including executive engineers, sub-divisional officers, and junior engineers locked horns with Gejja Ram during the meeting of the commission convened to discuss the delay in taking action against MC staffer. The MC officials alleged that the chairman had forced the employees to enter the manhole to implicate MC staffers.
One and a half months after the complaint, the Sahnewal police had booked unidentified persons under Sections 7 and 9 of The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 on August 30. The chairman, however, demanded that MC employees should be booked by name in the FIR.
