Amid Covid scare, sanitation workers in Amritsar continue to perform with dedication

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 4

Sanitation workers of the Municipal Corporation (MC) have been performing their duties with dedication amid the Covid scare. Despite a shortage of manpower, they have been making all-out efforts to clean streets, sewer lines and lift garbage.

The MC has 1,700 regular sanitation workers against the sectioned 2,300 posts. However, 123 employees have been outsourced through private companies. Besides, around 500 workers of a solid waste management company have been engaged in door-to-door collection of garbage. MC officials said the sanitation workers had been working round the clock.

Dr Ajay Kawar, Municipal Health Officer, said, “We have outsourced 172 workers for spraying sodium hypochlorite solution in all 85 wards. Two persons have been assigned the task of disinfecting a single ward. Besides, our workers have been performing their duties at hospitals where suspected Covid patients have been quarantined. We don’t have any shortage of staff and sanitation workers have been doing very well.”

Vinod Kumar Bitta, an office-bearer of the Safai Karamcharis’ Union, said, “The MC has not recruited regular sanitation workers for the past several years. We demand the recruitment of workers on a regular basis. Moreover, they have been performing their duties while putting them at risk. All of them need safety equipment while working at hospitals.”

MC Commissioner Komal Mittal on Saturday shared cakes and cookies, prepared by a local private school, with workers. She also praised the safai karamcharis for their services toward society in this time of crisis.

Relief efforts on: NGOs donate Food to needy, ventilators to hospitals

Amritsar: Continuing with the relief efforts and providing food to the needy, the Voice of Amritsar (VOA) distributed 200 bags of ration in Anngarh, Gate Hakeeman and Pulhari Gurdwara. The volunteers of VOA collaborated with the police to reach out to the needy as relief efforts have picked up pace in the city. Sarbat Da Bhala Trust, another non-profit organisation donated two ventilators each to government hospitals in Amritsar, Nawanshehar, Tanda and Gurdaspur. Cabinet Minister OP Soni along with DC and Commissioner of Police received the ventilators on Saturday as they addressed various issues to combat Covid-19 effectively in the city. Dr SP Singh, head of the Trust said the non-profit organisation would distribute N-95 masks and PPE kits to health workers and doctors working to treat Covid-19 patients in the coming days. “We have ordered 2,000 PPE kits and 2,000 N-95 masks to be given to doctors, nurses and other staff. We will do everything possible in our capacity to contribute towards this fight against the pandemic,” Dr Singh said. TNS

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