As solid waste management gets privatised, they will need to be rehabilitated
Keeping in mind the possibility of providing social entitlements to ragpickers and integrating them into an increasingly privatised solid waste management system, the Chennai Corporation is taking steps to issue identity cards to them.
Working with Transparent Chennai, the civic body is conducting a survey. Last month, it enumerated the ragpickers at Kodungaiyur dumping yard.
“There are about 200 ragpickers in the dumping yard. We want to give them identity cards to keep out unauthorised entry and keep in check fires that may break out in the dumping yard. The ragpickers often complain of being harassed by the police, so this ID will help them,” said a senior Corporation official.
One of the main reasons for this exercise, according to the official, is to figure out a way to resolve the conflict that is bound to rise due to privatisation of solid waste management in the city.
Barring four zones in the city, all others will have private conservancy operators to handle garbage. “The private players may oppose ragpickers removing waste as they are paid by tonnage. We will, therefore, have to look into ways to resolve this,” the official said.
Health screening will also take place once the survey wraps up in December. “Substance abuse is a persistent issue among ragpickers. We will have de-addiction measures for them,” the official said. According to experts, another concern that needs to be addressed is the large number of child ragpickers in the city. They will not be enumerated.
“These children often belong to peer groups, are sexually abused and prone to substance abuse. Intervention is very important in their case, as they are used to living without rules and will rebel against measures to bring them under the conventional education system,” said Mark Britto of Montfort Sirahugal, which runs a residential school for children of ragpickers, in association with the Corporation.
According to Avni Rastogi of the Initiative on Waste, Informal Workers and Chennai’s Future, the plan is to set up camps for issuing the IDs with the Corporation.
