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On the frontline: We clean public toilets thrice a day with jetting machines, chemicals, says PMC sanitation inspector
Sanitation inspector Inamdar Imamuddin Sirajuddin also known as Baba Inamdar has been working in the Pune Municipal Corporations’s (PMC) solid waste management department for 30 years
Sanitation inspector Inamdar Imamuddin Sirajuddin also known as Baba Inamdar has been working in the Pune Municipal Corporations’s (PMC) solid waste management department for 30 years. Armed with a BA, LLB diploma in labour law and labour welfare, and a diploma in information technology with a post graduate diploma in human rights studies, Inamdar is proud of his work. He was awarded a prize in population Census silver medal 2001 from APJ Abdul Kalam for his work in Pune. He speaks to HT about how maintaining hygiene in the city will help curb the virus.
What exactly is your role in the crisis?
My job is to oversee garbage collection, waste segregation, cleaning of public toilets. In addition to this, I conduct door-to-door surveys to help identify persons with flu-like symptoms. I visit houses to collect medical waste, such as used masks, which are collected separately and disposed in the incinerator. My job also involves motivating the staff, training them to maintain social distance, making a list of positive patients and as directed by the doctors, to shift them to hospitals for checking. I also look after the cremation process of Covid-19 patients. I have helped in the cremation of six bodies as no one was ready to take responsibility. Now we have formed a team for handling cremations.
How does your day begin and roll out?
I leave my house at 6.30 am and start coordinating with my team once I reach office. I also exercise in my office and walk as much as I can. I coordinate the movement of garbage trucks which include ghanta gadi, small vans, and bulk carriers. I also need to check on the drivers, staff coming for collection.
At 8 am, I deal with the teams who visit positive patients’ homes and areas. I also help out with the team that does house-to-house survey at micro level. Then I go to the hospitals. In my rounds during the day, I visit schools in Ghole road which is under my jurisdiction to check upon the labourers and to clean the place. We clean public toilets in the city thrice a day with jetting machines using chemicals. I work until 7pm.
What precautions are you taking?
I don’t eat anything outside; I wear mask regularly, use sanitiser and soap. As a supervisor I must follow all the rules so that my team will follow them too.
What is your assessment of the covid crisis n Pune? How is it unfolding?
PMC is doing a good job by making sure that residents follow lockdown norms. We all must act responsibly to win war against Covid-19 and ensure social distancing in public places.
What gaps do you see in healthcare and relief work?
We are all working together as a team. The only problem we face is that patients hide their history which makes puts us in a dangerous situation. I appeal to patients that if they have the symptoms then they must be open about their travel history.
It is also noticed that if one person in the slums is found positive, the other positive people tend to run away, then with the help of the police and ambulance, we have to find them and send them to the hospital. This makes our work difficult.
