Unprotected sanitation workers pick capital’s garbage

Mayor directs contractor to provide safety gear to daily-wage sanitation workers

ISLAMABAD: Though people are staying indoors owing to a lockdown imposed in the city in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19), it has not stopped the city from generating around 700 tonnes of solid waste every day.

To clear this waste, the 1,200 sanitation workers contracted by the local government have been working through the lockdown.

The sanitation workers work under a contractor hired by the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) to keep the federal capital clean and free of the trash.

Despite the threat posed by the virus, they have not been provided with any masks, gloves or any other personal protection equipment (PPE) such as the special suits which cover their body and prevent infection.

They also do not have access to hand sanitisers or soaps to wash their hands after cleaning up the garbage and litter from the city, leaving them vulnerable to the virus.

Even though many businesses, including several government departments, have devised work-from-home and alternative plans to continue their work amid reduced risk to workers, this field force has no alternative but to climb on to the trucks of IMC early every morning and go to the different parts of the capital to sweep the streets and pick up the garbage.

The IMC has not even devised a system of shifts, like in many other institutions, to reduce the risk for these workers.

The threat these workers face became apparent when the district administration, police, army and rangers sealed the Rimsha Colony of the city last week after a coronavirus case emerged there. Many sanitation workers who work there were told to stay at home until the curfew there is lifted. The administration had to assure these workers that they will not lose their jobs nor will they be marked absent and their salaries cut if they did not show up for work.

Despite repeated attempts, The Express Tribune could not get through to the IMC Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz and the IMC Sanitation director.

However, a spokesperson for the Mayor, IMC Assistant Director Mohsin Shirazi, claimed that they have so far distributed masks among some 700 sanitation workers who work under the IMC.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2020.