Dehradun: The acute shortage of safai karamcharis (sanitation workers) in government schools saw ruling and opposition party target the state government in the assembly on the third day of the session on Thursday.BJP legislator from Rudraprayag Bharat Singh Chaudhary questioned the state government about the number of schools which had the provision for sanitation workers and how many were posted in schools. Replying to the question, the minister said that the state has 1,764 schools which had the provision for sanitation workers but at present there are only 392 (22%) safai karamcharis working to clean schools.Pandey said, “The previous government ended the recruitment of sanitation workers in the state, and so we keep safai karamcharis on contractual basis.”On which, the legislator who had raised the question, asked, “How does the government intend to fill up the remaining vacant posts?”The minister replied, “We are hiring people on contractual basis through Uttarakhand Purva Sainik Kalyan Nigam Limited (UPNL) and Prantiya Yuva Rakshak Dal and so the staff is not less.”Congress legislator from Bhagwanpur in Haridwar district Mamta Rakesh said that she has worked as a teacher and in many schools, toilets are kept locked in the absence of required sanitation staff. “Students face several problems and despite the tall claims nothing much is being done on the issue,” she said. The minister then assured her about the hiring of contractual staff for schools.Incidentally, a slip of tongue by education minister Arvind Pandey during the discussion led to indignation from the Opposition benches. Pandey had said that as and when required, school children also made their contribution for cleanliness of toilets.

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