Conservancy workers want Amitabh Bachchan’s aid in fight for pay, medical benefits

MUMBAI: Representatives of conservancy workers in the city will meet actor Amitabh Bachchan on Thursday and urge him to help place their demands before the authorities.
Conservancy workers want the actor, who is also ambassador of the Swachh Bharat Mission, to accompany them to a January 6 meeting with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, to press for their pending demands.
Milind Ranade, of the Kachra Vahtuk Shramik Sangh (KVSS) said since the 6,500 conservancy workers in the city are the backbone of the Swachh Bharat Mission, their demands, which include health issues and pending salaries, should be addressed at the earliest.
“We hope Bachchan will take up our cause. The workers are living in precarious condition for years now,” said Ranade. They plan to give Bachchan a memorandum when they meet him.
One of the major issues which they want the government to address is improve their paltry salaries. The workers are paid lower than statutory minimum wages. According to union members, the state government declared Rs 14,000 per month as statutory minimum wage way back on February 24, 2015. However, the BMC is still paying only Rs 9,000 per month and minimum wage arrears for the last 22 months work out to more than Rs 1.20 lakh per worker. They also want to demand medical facilities for the workers, as they are exposed to extreme health hazards and the rate of mortality within the workforce is very high.
“The BMC has taken a policy decision to cover these workers under the Employees State Insurance Scheme in 2009. However, till date, though the workers contributions are deducted, the matching contribution has not come from the employer resulting in no medical benefits for these workers who are exposed to extreme health hazards day in and day out,” said Ranade.