Sanitary workers in Chennai cleared tonnes of debris that had piled up in the city after Cyclone Michaung
| Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ B
Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) Commissioner J. Radhakrishnan on Friday told the Madras High Court that gloves, masks and shoes were provided regularly to sanitary workers involved in segregating biodegradable and nonbiodegradable waste, but some workers choose not to wear the protective gear, citing inconvenience.
Appearing before a special Division Bench of Justices S. Vaidyanathan and P.T. Asha though a video call, the Commissioner said that even after the rains due to Cyclone Michaung, he had come across some sanitary workers segregating waste with their bare hands, without wearing the gloves provided to them.
“When I questioned, they replied that it is easy for them to do the job with bare hands. I told them, it may be easy for you, but the courts will put us all [local body officials] in jail. To that extent, I have impressed upon them to ensure that they do the job only after wearing the safety gear,” Mr. Radhakrishnan said.
Mr. Radhakrishnan made the submission when Justice Asha expressed shock over human beings made to segregate waste, and that too with bare hands. Referring to the ban on manual scavenging, she said, the law would equally apply to waste segregation and therefore every effort must be taken to segregate it at source.
Agreeing with her fully, the Commissioner said, around 50 to 60% of people and resident welfare associations were very active in segregating waste at source. It was the rest of the population that required to be educated about the need to segregate waste and they would be targeted in the days to come, he said.
Two bin system
Justice Asha lamented that the two-bin system had not been implemented even inside the Madras High Court campus or on Greenways Road where judges’ bungalows were located. “Only after I broached this subject during the last hearing, someone knocked at my door the next morning with two bins,” she said.
Mr. Radhakrishnan said, though the High Court campus was maintained by the Public Works Department (PWD), the GCC would work in coordination with PWD and ensure effective implementation of the two-bin system within a fortnight since the court campus would fall within the category of bulk waste generator.
He said, the two-bin system would also be implemented effectively at the Secretariat, Greenways Road as well as on one model road in each of the 15 zones in the Corporation to start with. Since he was now addressing the Ennore oil spill issue, the two-bin system would be implemented within a fortnight, he added.
The judges accepted his submission and decided to take up the issue next on January 2, 2024 in order to take stock of the progress. However, in so far as the issue related to banning single-use plastics in trains, railway stations and other places was concerned, the judges decided to hear the matter on Monday, December 18, 2023.