"...The film is an appeal to Puneites to act more responsibly and at least
segregate their wet and dry garbage, vermicompost their wet garbage, and
say no to plastic. This will make the lives of the workers a little
easier. ... ... How can these people function like this? The question
haunts us and stays with us even as we hear the laments and cries of these
workers who let us step into their lives that are full of inhumanity,
poverty, filth, illiteracy and the absence of any social status. ..."
Cleaners of the waste
By Huned Contractor
http://www.infochangeindia.org/documentary62.jsp
The documentary Kachra Kondi, produced by Pune's municipal workers' union,
provides a shocking insight into the lives and work of sanitation workers.
At first sight it's nothing more than an open manhole filled almost to the
brim with putrefied water. The camera stays still. Then, suddenly, a head
emerges from within, followed by the torso. In his hand, the man, dressed
in just his underwear, holds a huge stone. More debris is removed with
each dive into the rancid mix of drain water that passes through links
under the surface of the road.
The sight is enough to bring bile into the mouth of the viewer. But, for
the man doing the job it's routine work. So also for another sanitation
worker -- an elderly woman -- who has to scrape faeces off open toilets
and wash walls stained with urine and spittle every day.
Both workers are members of the unique dalit brigade of employees of the
Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) whose task it is to keep the city clean
-- whatever it takes. And, as Atul Pethe's 55-minute documentary Kachra
Kondi (Garbage Dump) in Marathi reveals, sometimes it even takes lives.
Produced by the PMC Workers Union, under the guidance of its secretary
Mukta Manohar, the film shocks the senses. Not because Pethe has
intentionally captured horrifying shots of workers handling carcasses of
dead animals, even human corpses, and working in garbage dumps without any
protection, but because almost all of us have so far been blind to the
system that hauls garbage off the roads and in front of our homes to
places that do not threaten us with contamination.
How can these people function like this? The question haunts us and stays
with us even as we hear the laments and cries of these workers who let us
step into their lives that are full of inhumanity, poverty, filth,
illiteracy and the absence of any social status.
For the first time, the workers find a platform to express themselves. "I
have been trying to buy a house for many years. When I went to a bank for
a loan, they saw my salary slip and asked me about my job. They then told
me to come back after two days. I never got the loan", says a worker. "Men
are so shameless that they don't wait outside even when they see me
washing the urinal", says a woman worker.
Kachra Kondi tackles the issue from various angles. The putrid conditions
in which the workers do their job is one aspect. Then there's the
equipment, or lack of it: none of the workers wear masks, gloves or boots
while collecting garbage or entering manholes. Says Nitin Kareer, former
PMC commissioner, who is interviewed in the film: There is a budget to buy
the necessary equipment and distribute it to the workers. But between the
cup and the lip lies the slip, so the protective gear never reaches the
workers. "Corruption? Don't even talk about it. It's everywhere", a worker
points out.
There's also the aspect of what this kind of work does to the workers'
health. Pethe films men and women who suffer from skin ailments and also
injuries requiring hospitalisation. But medical assistance is almost
non-existent; the workers bear the pain simply because they cannot afford
to consult private doctors or buy medicines. Accidents are commonplace
too. On April 19, 2007, for example, Lata Mhaske, a sweeper, was killed by
a speeding van as she was going about her job in the early hours of the
morning. Two workers died a few years ago from extreme asphyxiation. In
2006, there were 65 deaths among sanitation workers. The data is updated
regularly. Beyond that, nobody cares.
As if all this weren't enough, there is now the burning issue of
sanitation work being outsourced to private contractors who bring in
people at rock-bottom rates and force them to put in more than 12-15 hours
of grinding work every day. For the PMC staffers, who feel that their jobs
are now threatened, there is no recourse but to take out morchas and
address corner meetings in order to raise awareness among both the
bureaucracy and the public.
I have made this film with the thought that they deserve their fair share
of health, education and basic human rights. There is no attempt to
provoke or be overtly emotional.It's an objective approach showcasing
reality as it exists, says Pethe, whose earlier documentary film SEZ:
Arajakachi Nandi? (SEZ: Prelude To Anarchy?) deals with land-grabs.
Mukta Manohar says: "The film is an appeal to Puneites to act more
responsibly and at least segregate their wet and dry garbage, vermicompost
their wet garbage, and say no to plastic. This will make the lives of the
workers a little easier."
Pethe plans to subtitle the film in English for audiences outside
Maharashtra. "After all, it's a common enough problem across the country",
he observes.
VCD copies of the film are available at Rs 100 each from Atul Pethe
Productions. Tel: 25421355. (Huned Contractor is a freelance journalist
and filmmaker based in Pune. Read his other review "Flush and forget", on
the documentary film Faecal Attraction that also focuses on the issue of
waste disposal)
InfoChange News & Features, July 2007
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