In defence of the rag-picker By Clinton Vaz [EMAIL PROTECTED]
We all agree here that the Government should focus on basic amenities first. The difference in opinion here is to whom... the Goan or the outsider. In my understanding, we need the migrants, and we need them because there are a lot of jobs in Goa that the Goans aren't prepared to do. And while this attitude continues, we will continue to have migrants coming in to fill in the gaps of available jobs. I was asked to help the Corporation of the city of Panjim from 2005 to 2007 manage their waste. So what I'm writing is from personal experiences... backed with data and pictures. Little over 180 staff are employed just to clear away the city's garbage. Of this figure just 54 are Goans, approx 12 Christians, 5 Muslim and rest Hindu. List of names and duties can be provided on request). While there is ample job opportunities for Goans in this stream of work, it's always unoccupied and left to the so called 'ghatis' to take it up. Almost all the Goans employed belong to a backward caste. Seems that we Goans love to complain about not having jobs and how the migrants are taking it, but jobs involving sanitation, construction, road work are always reserved for the low caste and the 'ghatis'. When moving around with the sanitation workers in Panjim, I noticed that Panjim has a large number of rag-pickers... primarily because the city separates at source, therefore providing a very high quality of non-contaminated recycle-able waste. The ratio at times is 1 worker to 1 rag-picker. As a result, the sanitation worker is happy as the rag-picker helps him carry the waste bin, and empties a substantial portion of the bin. The city officials are also happy that there is a reduction of 75% of dry (recyclable) waste that would otherwise go to a landfill that does not exist. On my (and a few others') insistence, the city even set up a few sorting centres. One opposite the ITI Bldg at Altinho, one near Fakri Manzil, Miramar and the main and biggest one within the Animal Shelter at St. Inez. In a typical sorting center, bins or trucks filled with dry waste are emptied into a heap and then separated into as many as 38 different fractions of recyclable products. When we employed city sanitation staff, we had to deal with late attendance, long tea breaks, frequent absence, and low speed of work. Rag-pickers, on the other hand, wanted to work for no pay and often working through the nights and at a very high efficiency. The rag-pickers have enabled a lot of new items to be separated (for free) from landfill waste such as tetrapak cartons and batteries. Rag-pickers don't live and work on the street because they like to; they do so because of their financial situation. Working in a cleaner environment such as a sorting center, with source separated waste -- no mixed bio-medical or organic or industrial waste -- reduces their working hazard, and generates some income from the sale of the recyclable items they pick. I think that a city with many rag pickers is a healthy sign that the city is recycling its waste inspite of no help from the citizens. And this is just one example of the usefulness of a certain migrant community. Remove all the migrants and the city will stop functioning in a few weeks if not days. Your house construction will remain incomplete as the migrants were sent away. The approach road to your home will deteriorate as the contractor from Kerala has no labour. If a water pipeline bursts, or your broadband connection isn't laid, its because there was nobody to dig the trench. If you go to Miramar, and don't feel like spending sixty rupees for some bhelpuri at a restaurant, who would sell you some for seven to ten rupees instead? If you as a normal Goan lacking civic sense would throw a empty pet bottle of soda on the street, it would lie there until the rain or wind took it into the clogging drain. No rag-pickers means that all the shopkeepers would have problems disposing their empty cartons.. with no space in their already encroached premises, they would simply block off the rest of the footpath. No rag-pickers means that the city has 75% more waste to dispose into landfill. Is there any city in India functioning waste-wise without rag-pickers? If your sewage tank is overfull, who would do the dirty job or emptying it? If there is an unclaimed human body discovered someplace, who would be given the task of disposing it away? Criticize the fact that the Goans are simply not willing to work in these jobs. Criticize the fact that the Government isn't providing awareness in basic civic sense to Goans as well as the useful migrant rag-picker. Criticize the fact that the government is not providing basic housing and sanitation to the poor and homeless people that are left to fend for themselves and set up slums to eke out an existence. Or even better, do something to make a change rather than criticize. -- [Clinton Vaz is an environmental campaigner closely involved with the garbage plan of Panjim in recent years. He is currently in the Swedish capital of Stockholm and on +46762976399. You can contact him via email at klintvaz at gmail.com This article is a response to the current debate over the issue of migrants, 'ghantis' and rag-pickers on Goanet http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org ]