“The state needs to look after us. We can’t be dependent on the charity of individuals”

Manoj has just finished his morning run collecting garbage from residential societies in Noida, acronym for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority. His day began at 5 AM when he woke up. By 7AM, he was getting his instructions from a supervisor, followed by going house-to-house. Even though there is fear of the disease everywhere and he knows he is at risk, nothing really has changed for him besides getting perfunctory instructions to look after himself. Societies he works for have invested little in his wellbeing. He has been provided with gloves and masks but, for him, they are more a hindrance than an aid. “When I put on the mask it is as if half my brain stops working and is only focused on breathing. The gloves are increasingly difficult to manage as the temperature rises. They make my hands sweaty and it’s difficult to handle bags with them. Also, eventually when I have to dispose of them, who will do the needful? It has to be me,” he smiles ruefully. He is part of a six-member team of cleaners who work across three sectors in Noida, comprising mostly service-class households. From retired army officers and bureaucrats to media professionals, the doorbells he rings every morning are answered by people who have been important cogs in the wheel. “But who thinks about us? No one,” he says. He heads to work every morning these days with a sense of dread not knowing if the garbage he is handling is also giving him the virus.

Manoj is unsure how old he is, giving his age as anywhere between 30 and 35 years. All he knows is that he has been in Delhi for more than two decades and this is the only job he has done since he came here. “My aunt brought me to the city when I was… ,” he trails off and then laughs. His father was a daily-wage labourer in their village, Gajraula in Uttar Pradesh’s Gajraula district, and all he remembers is a life of difficulty. “Not much changes for people like us. My father struggled his entire life. And now I struggle.”

As a sanitation worker, Manoj is an essential service provider, a term he was unfamiliar with till the lockdown came into effect. Now he thinks of himself in the same category as doctors, the police and the media but says no one else extends that courtesy. “There are people who enquire after our wellbeing, who have offered to give us gloves, etcetera, but the state needs to look after us. We can’t be dependent on the goodwill and charity of individuals,” he says. Manoj is not even sure who his employer is, whether it is the societies or the Authority (it is the latter).

According to a 2018 study conducted by Dalberg, a strategy and policy advisory firm focused on global development, India has an estimated 5 million fulltime sanitation workers, with only a fraction of them officially recognised. ‘Sanitation work’ is too broadly defined though. Dalberg found nine distinct categories ranging from sewer cleaning to domestic work with lack of recognition cited as a major stumbling block when it comes to accessing schemes and programmes designed for these.

The World Health Organization has issued a set of guidelines during the pandemic for cleaners which state that they must be equipped with proper protective gear like closed work shoes, gloves, glasses etcetera. Closer home, the National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) has asked local bodies to ensure that sanitation workers are provided personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as educated on social distancing norms. It has also demanded they be provided with soap and hand sanitiser. Earlier this week, a public interest suit was also filed by social activist Harnam Singh demanding protective equipment and testing facilities for them and their families. A huge gap, however, remains between instruction and execution. Besides, there is the question about suitability of material. “The safety equipment that is being spoken about, PPEs and gloves, are not feasible for tropical climates.They have been designed keeping in mind temperate climates, so it is going to be uncomfortable for workers,” says VK Madhavan, Chief Executive for WaterAid India, an NGO that works to improve access to clean water, toilets and hygiene. According to him this is a result of the neglect of sanitation workers perceived to be at the bottom of the value chain. “No thought has ever been given to what kind of protective equipment is actually needed in their line of work,” he says.

Manoj’s day ends at around 3PM after the garbage has been collected and handed over to the Authority’s collection vehicles. Under normal circumstances, he would carry a lunchbox with him to eat while on the job but since the lockdown, he prefers to go home for his first big meal of the day. He has been given strict instructions on how to sanitise once he reaches home and for the sake of his children—a boy and a girl—he makes sure to follow those twice over. “My clothes are soaked in a solution of hot water and Dettol which my wife leaves outside for me and I stay away from the family till I have had my bath. Dar toh bahut hai [there is a lot of fear] but what can one do?” he says. How does Manoj evaluate the work he is doing in these times? “Is there any point in me recognising my value? Society has to recognise it. By enquiring after my family once in a blue moon or giving us baksheesh on festivals is not a way to honour or recognise our work. There has to be dignity of labour,” he says.

His source of information on the pandemic is the internet. From videos to TikTok, he consumes them all to educate himself. “We don’t have a TV at home, so this this is how we stay informed. But I have been told by my son Pushpendra that what one sees on the internet cannot be trusted blindly,” he says. A Class 8 student at the local government school, 13-year-old Pushpendra would rather his father gave up this work altogether. He knows that there have already been cases of sanitation workers getting infected by the virus and worries about his father handling discarded masks, gloves, tissues, etcetera. Experts recommend households segregate the medical waste, but few follow the advice. “At the very least, there needs to be awareness about the dangers they are dealing with. A lot of focus is on the risks faced by medical staff but lab technicians, hospital cleaners are also in the same boat. The only silver lining is that public health professionals are extending the conversation to include [sanitation workers]. The minute the nomenclature changes to public health worker, there is dignity attached to it. We will have to hope that this continues once this is over,” says Madhavan.

Manoj laughs when told about his son’s desire that his father quit the job. “Of course I have had this thought. But what else will I do? It’s not as if there is much waiting for us back in the village seeing that we are landless. My wife used to work in a school but even she has been sitting at home now and we don’t know if she will have a job when the school reopens,” he says. Manoj’s monthly salary is Rs 8,500 but most months he gets Rs 7,000 in hand. “Between rent and groceries, there isn’t much left in the form of savings, which is where my wife’s salary used to come in handy.” As of now, ration and groceries have not been difficult to come by for the family of four but he is always worried about what tomorrow will bring. “When you have grown up with as much uncertainty as I have, the future is a thing to be scared of, not to look forward to. I worry about making demands or asking for rights because jobs are not easy to come by. There are 10 people waiting to replace me, each more desperate than the other.”

India’s lockdown has been extended till May 3rd. For Manoj, it makes no difference. He will still wake up at 5AM every day, like he has done for the past two decades, and make his way to the society gate to begin his rounds.

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About The Author

Nikita Doval

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