Swachh Bharat? Booklets in Hindi flummox corpn’s sanitary workers

  • | Thursday | 8th November, 2018

We plan to train 600 workers before March,” he told TOI.But the gloves are made of the banned plastic, said Mani (name changed), another sanitary worker. But the gloves are less than 50 microns in thickness, which we have been directed to collect separately for destroying. “We distributed booklets explaining the do’s and don’ts to be followed along with a kit that contains gloves and a jacket to all those who attended the workshop. If only it was in Tamil, we would have at least gone through the pages to check whether the method we follow was correct or not. “At the workshop, they told us to wear the jacket and gloves whenever we handle solid waste, so that the wastes would not stick on our dress or hands.

Coimbatore: Sanitary workers of the city corporation, who attended the ‘Pan India Workshop on Prevention of Hazardous Cleaning of Sewers and Septic Tanks’ organized by the National Safai Karmcharis Finance & Development Corporation (NSKFDC) under the ministry of social justice and empowerment have expressed scepticism about the exercise — particularly about the 200-page booklets issued to the workers —which are in Hindi.“None of us could understand what was written in the book. If only it was in Tamil, we would have at least gone through the pages to check whether the method we follow was correct or not. But the books are in Hindi. If they have used English words once a while, we would have matched those words with the pictorial representations,” said R Gunasekaran, a sanitary worker.Till date, nine five-day-long workshops were conducted and a total of 393 workers were trained, said S Kamaraj, director of NGO Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Development, in charge of conducting the workshops. “We distributed booklets explaining the do’s and don’ts to be followed along with a kit that contains gloves and a jacket to all those who attended the workshop. We plan to train 600 workers before March,” he told TOI.But the gloves are made of the banned plastic, said Mani (name changed), another sanitary worker. “At the workshop, they told us to wear the jacket and gloves whenever we handle solid waste, so that the wastes would not stick on our dress or hands. But the gloves are less than 50 microns in thickness, which we have been directed to collect separately for destroying. They got damaged when I tried to put them on. The jacket was too small for me. What is this, if not an eyewash?”Meanwhile, officials involved in the project said that they have been writing to the Central government to provide quality materials and books in regional language. “But, as all the products were procured, it might not be possible to get new ones this year,” an official said.Vice-chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) L Murugan said that he had issued directions to the officials concerned to distribute the translated book within a week.

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