Just another day for others at Azad maidan

Anna Hazare’s day of victory was just another day for the many other protestors fasting at Azad Maidan. Bhavya Dore reports.

Anna Hazare’s day of victory was just another day for the many other protestors fasting at Azad Maidan.

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From contract workers at government hospitals demanding higher pay to school officials demanding the aid promised by the government for children with special needs, scores of activists have been protesting silently, invisible to the public gaze till Hazare’s high-profile campaign arrived to share their space.

The school officials have been protesting here since March 1; 11 of their protestors have been hospitalised. “For the past 10 years we have received none of the promised aid,” said Chandrakant Jadhav, 34, a member of the school consortium.

Not far away, Shobha Sonawane, 37, and a group of about 100 women from across the state have been fasting at the ground since Wednesday.

They currently earn Rs 900 per month as contract sanitation workers at government hospitals. They are demanding that their pay be hiked to Rs 3,000 per month. “Since Wednesday, 20 women have been hospitalised, but no one has looked our way,” said Sonawane, who travelled here from Aurangabad.

“It doesn’t matter. We may have no money, but we will hold our ground until we get justice.”