Report of the correspondent of Mazdoor Ekta Committee
On 28th August, hundreds of women sanitation workers staged a massive protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Under the flag of ‘Safai Karamachari Andolan’, these workers have been on the campaign since May 11, 2022, i.e., for the last 480 days, to raise the pitch about the deaths of Safai Karmacharis in different areas of the country.
The sanitation workers held banners saying ‘Stop killing us!’ and banners of their other demands. Along with this, photographs of the deceased sanitation workers were also displayed. In the protest, the workers drew people’s attention to the fact that so far in 2023 alone, 59 sanitation workers have died. Many of these workers were in the age group of 18-25 years. But government ministers have blatantly lied on this issue in Parliament, they said. The protesting workers pointed out that the government does not care about the lives of the poor working people and only cares about increasing the wealth of the rich.
Women sanitation workers have demanded from the government that it provides complete safety equipment, gas masks, etc. to the workers cleaning sewers and tanks. They are demanding proper compensation for the families of the deceased laborers and the right to live a life with dignity. They have announced that this campaign will continue until these demands are met across the country.