Agartala, Feb 05 (TIWN): Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) not seems to be following the guidelines stipulated to ensure safety and good health of sanitation workers in the city. According to official report around 500 sanitation workers are employed by the municipal corporation.

  They pushes the rickety wheelbarrow, goes on like clockwork, lifts sewage debris with bare hands. The stench is repulsive, but he performs his task diligently, lifting the waste into the barrow and moving it to a bin nearby. Unmindful of the health risks associated with it, the workers carry on with the jobs without any protective gear

World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines clearly mentioned that people working as dumpsite waste pickers and sewage cleaners are highly susceptible to diseases like diarrhoea. Besides, the incidence of tuberculosis, bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, dysentery, parasitic infections and malnutrition is also high among waste pickers. Workers engaged in cleanliness of septic tanks and sewage lines are exposed to harmful micro organisms and high quantities of methane and hydrogen sulphide.

Besides the  guidelines drafted by AMC under the city sanitation plan clearly indicate that sanitation workers working in septic tanks should be provided with long rubber gloves, a water proof hat, goggles, respirators, rubber boots, long pants over boots, solid waste collectors are also be provided with high visibility jackets, protective clothing, shoes, boots, masks and gloves. The guidelines also demand free regular medical checkup.

A senior official of AMC wishing name not to be disclosed said that sending in workers without basic safety equipment goes against the central rules, the AMC is in process to have some safety gears for the workers.