Ragpickers struggle to make ends meet, risk Covid infection

Usha Bant, 38, earned a living by collecting segregated dry waste from hotels and restaurants in Santacruz. But in the last three months, her livelihood took a hit

Usha Bant, 38, earned a living by collecting segregated dry waste from hotels and restaurants in Santacruz. But in the last three months, her livelihood took a hit as the lockdown ravaged the hospitality sector. With hotels locking their doors, Bant found herself in dire straits. The pandemic has hit the informal waste collection sector harder than most.

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From a 90% drop in daily wages, fear of segregating contaminated mixed waste, and witnessing relatives walk miles to go back to their states, to being barred from entering societies and landfills, ragpickers in the city have had a tough four months.

Bant’s story is no different. Prior to the lockdown, the Andheri slum resident would take the local train to Santacruz to collect waste, sell it, and earn around ₹200 per day. “From March to May, I could not earn anything. Neither was there any transport, nor waste available. I managed to segregate waste outside societies, earning ₹5 per day. NGOs helped or else I would have died of hunger,” said Bant.

Vile-Parle resident Bharti Sukaya, 49, a ragpicker at MIDC Andheri for 12 years, would earn ₹150 per day to support her three children, before the lockdown. She was forced to change her daily route after some areas were declared as containment zones. “I began following civic sanitation workers, resorting to scavenging for valuable plastic that they missed, and making ₹5-10 per day,” she said.

BMC had banned the entry of ragpickers at city landfills after fires were reported at Deonar dumping ground in 2015 and 2016. “An order to reverse this was never implemented,” said Mhapsekar.

Haider Ali Sayyed, founder, Aasra Welfare Association, with 450 registered ragpickers, said the informal sector had collapsed due to lack of transportation of waste, and most of it was hoarded by local dealers. “This happened as the majority of transporters who were from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar left Mumbai. Transportation of waste stopped and major waste dealers dropped rates of scrap collected. Local dealers are now selling that scrap at much higher prices,” he said.

Aasra provided 700 PPE kits, 5,500kg of ration (including rice, oil, lentils, etc.), 13,500 food packets, and 3,700 sanitary kits (soaps, toothpaste, sanitary pads, etc.) to ragpickers, with support from private companies and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

“Besides PPE kits, temporary identification (ID) cards and training on Covid-19 precautions were provided,” said Alpita Rathod, project associate, UNDP.

“While doctors have been hailed for their efforts, this lowest segment of Covid-19 warriors has remained ignored. Ragpickers are responsible for segregating 60% of Mumbai’s waste, even during this pandemic,” said Jidnyasa Arondekar, president, Aakar Mumbai, with 1,550 registered ragpickers employed across six segregation centres in the western suburbs. “Many would have contracted the virus without realising it. Despite repeated reminders to BMC to provide ID cards, a majority of ragpickers don’t have them,” Arondekar said.

From March 25 to April 14 (Lockdown 1.0), none of Mumbai’s 46 waste segregation centres were functional. However, operations resumed from April 15.

BMC officials said owing to mixed waste containing Covid protective equipment that could be potentially hazardous, workers at these segregation centres were also at risk. “70% of ragpickers are illegally associated with the informal sector, where help cannot be provided. The matter will be considered after Covid-19 cases are reduced,” said a senior solid waste management department official.