Ajaykanth By Express News Service KOCHI : Kochi may be in a state of standstill for nearly a week due to the lockdown, but the situation has made the lives of Sebastian I T, 59, and Subhash S, 48, only busier. The two have been hitting the city streets every morning and picking up all that the residents dump, with the daily collection of waste hit badly. “Large quantities of waste are getting piled up on the roadside at many places in the city. Most of the people who do door-to-door waste collection are from the remote areas in the district. Since they can’t commute at the moment, we’ve to handle the extra workload. We haven’t taken a break for the past six days,” said Ravipuram resident Sebastian, who has been a sanitation worker with the Kochi corporation for the past three-and-a-half decades. “We made slight changes to our duty timings because of the lockdown. We venture out early morning and finish our jobs by noon. Residents have been dumping all sorts of waste including broken glass and damaged electronic/ electric goods during night and we can’t afford them to remain there,” said Subhash. “We don’t mind collecting whatever they dump. But they need to consider that we are also human beings. Though corporation and other agencies have been running campaigns to sensitise people not to dump waste on the roads, the residents continue to do it,” said Sebastian. Sebastian and Subhash are really worried about their safety as they know Covid-19 virus is spreading. But they do not want to relax as they are aware that piling up of waste could result in outbreak of other diseases. “The corporation has provided us with safety gear and made us aware about maintaining hygiene. Though we’ve been provided with plastic gloves, we can’t use them all the time because the trash bags, which are made of plastic, slip out of our hands. We clean our hands after our work,” said Subhash. The two hand over the waste they collect from the roads mainly in Kaloor, LS Road, Judges Avenue and Pavakkulam areas to the main collection centre. It is then shifted to the Brahmapuram dump yard. “I joined Sebastian only five years back. We hear news about people falling ill. But clearing garbage is utmost important because it is related to people’s health and well-being. We will continue to perform our duty. Our only request to people is not to throw medical waste, diapers, e-waste and broken glasses on the roads,” added Subhash.

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