Chintan Public Hearing
The Real Environmentalists
10 April 2018
2:30pm ~ 4:30pm
Indian Social Institute
Organised by Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group
Meenakshi Lekhi ji was also there, along with a ton of Govt officials from a myriad of departments. That in itself is commendable. Great work, Chintan :)
After a quick welcome from Chintan, the public hearing started with a few words from Bharati, Ms. Lekhi and then the Waste Pickers started listing grievances, one by one.
The Waste Pickers/kabadiwalas still constantly struggle with issues like:
• Lack of uniforms
• Lack of masks, gloves
• Lack of I cards
Meenakshi Lekhi ji was also there, along with a ton of Govt officials from a myriad of departments. That in itself is commendable. Great work, Chintan :)
After a quick welcome from Chintan, the public hearing started with a few words from Bharati, Ms. Lekhi and then the Waste Pickers started listing grievances, one by one.
The Waste Pickers/kabadiwalas still constantly struggle with issues like:
• Lack of uniforms
• Lack of masks, gloves
• Lack of I cards
* In spite of the Delhi Nagar Nigam's assurances for all these facilities for them, they are still not included in the organised sector.
• So many years ago, hey had started with a goal to get users to segregate at source. But that's still a distant dream.
• No Aadhar cards
• No pension benefits, medical aide
- Ms. Lekhi responded to this. Said all Indian families already have bank accounts now. All working members should now get bank accounts made. And promised to work on this.
• All the waste pickers also had big accolades for Bharati and Chintan.
• Lack of housing (living near drains/street)
• They still deal with broken glass, pins and other such harmful things found from homes. But there is no medical aide available. No help with injuries at work, pregnancy (especially, when there are complications. Anecdote shared of a case). They aren't admitted, are told to arrange tens of thousands of rupees, aren't even seen if they don't have proper documentation, are asked to arrange for blood, and other medical equipment, etc etc.
• Every few kilometres, there should be medical centres for them and ambulance facilities should also be make available in their areas, for prompt medical response.
- Meenakshi ji agreed with this issue. The entire unorganized sector has the same issue. But she's going to get them included with the organized sector’s vans that are already exist. But reminded that she can only commit to New Delhi and Delhi Cantt Vidhan Sabha areas.
- She promised to help them with their Aadhar allotments, insurance, pension and other such government schemes as well.
- Assistance in medical aide was also assured (medicines/equipment arrangement and such things), as and when the need arises, if she is made aware of emergencies.
- Depending upon the resources she has under her disposable, she promised full support in areas under her jurisdiction.
Other issues which could not get covered with Ms. Lekhi, due to time constraints: toilets, Anganwadi, etc
- Meenakshi ji responded that she would help with everything, if she can. The last few issues aren't under her control, as they are Jal Board related. But promised to pass such grievance letters to the respective concerned departments and do follow-ups as well.
- Meenakshi ji added that 14th, Mahadev Road is where her office is. And offered to start a camp for the Waste Pickers right there ASAP, if required.
- Before leaving, she requested the government officials, who had joined the hearing, to stay till the very end and to ensure that they share their findings with her office as well by the end of the day.
Issues continued:
• Issue- Lack of shared toilets. They can't get toilets made in their own homes, due to the lack of space. It takes too long to get qued-up for using the public toilets nearest to them. This forces them into open defecation. Even the nursing homes closest to them are surrounded by filth. Open defecation scares them too. Secluded areas are always filled with drug-addicts and criminals.
• Issue- Anganwadi (day care for children of working mothers); Khatoon: No facility to leave their children anywhere, when they have to go to work. If there was an anganwadi near them, they would also love to send their children to get some education, but more importantly, to keep them safe.
• Issue- Clean water; Jharana: No drinking water near their residences. Request to the authorities to install some boring facility or have a tanker come to their locality. If they go to other nearby localities to fill drinking water, they aren’t allowed to get water from there, due to castism and other reasons.
• Issue- Dirty drains; Pramod: They are constantly prone to infections and diseases due to this issue in their localities. Entire streets get flooded with sewage, even more so during the monsoons. Very dangerous living conditions for children. Please help.
• Issue- Schooling, illiteracy; Anwar: Especially secondary education is not available within reasonable distances from their residences
- Govt official’s response: Identity cards process has started. Around 700 or so are already handed over as well. Please go to the South Delhi office for assistance with yours.
• Issue- Funds not being utilized: Maharashtra and Punjab are the only two states that utilize the funds that get allotted to them for Waste Pickers’ help. Please help us by utilizing the govt funds allotted for us.
- Govt official’s response: Water, drains and toilets etc come under them. Please go in large numbers and meet your local MLAs
- Govt official’s response: (To other Govt officials gathered there) Identify all waste pickers and give them IDs.
• Issue- We have hired tempos, filled them with our people and gine in large numbers to our locals MLAs. But always get asked to not crowd public places and go away.
• We must give our problems in writing in respective Govt depts. All of us must meet the concerned people together, in large numbers, under Chintan’s guidance, with the requisite Govt documents.
• Issue- Scholarships- Ex-intern from Chintan- Tarun; There are scholarships available for waste picker’s families. But only three states are utilizing these scholarships.
• Issue- INNFS- Tarun; INNFS is in direct contraction with waste pickers. Landfills have turned into landhills. INNFS burns all the trash, rather than segregation. Which doesn’t even product more than 10% of the amount energy, they had claimed incineration would produce.
- Govt Official’s response; Wet waste mixed with e-waste and other hazardous materials becomes extremely dangerous. Request you all to implement segregation strictly. Especially more during monsoons. The localities around landfills suffer the most when it rains. All municipal corporations must implement segregation.
- South Delhi corporation started issuing IDs. Once you have that, all other facilities, benefits, servicing and training etc will also become accessible to you.
- Request only registered pickers to come for waste-picking in localities. This will make registration a priority and then all waste pickers will start getting the benefits as a result of registration.
• Waste picker, in conclusion: And we all must use our votes for our benefit too. When they come to ask us for votes next, we must first ask them to solve our problems.
More about Chintan:
• So many years ago, hey had started with a goal to get users to segregate at source. But that's still a distant dream.
• No Aadhar cards
• No pension benefits, medical aide
- Ms. Lekhi responded to this. Said all Indian families already have bank accounts now. All working members should now get bank accounts made. And promised to work on this.
• All the waste pickers also had big accolades for Bharati and Chintan.
• Lack of housing (living near drains/street)
• They still deal with broken glass, pins and other such harmful things found from homes. But there is no medical aide available. No help with injuries at work, pregnancy (especially, when there are complications. Anecdote shared of a case). They aren't admitted, are told to arrange tens of thousands of rupees, aren't even seen if they don't have proper documentation, are asked to arrange for blood, and other medical equipment, etc etc.
• Every few kilometres, there should be medical centres for them and ambulance facilities should also be make available in their areas, for prompt medical response.
- Meenakshi ji agreed with this issue. The entire unorganized sector has the same issue. But she's going to get them included with the organized sector’s vans that are already exist. But reminded that she can only commit to New Delhi and Delhi Cantt Vidhan Sabha areas.
- She promised to help them with their Aadhar allotments, insurance, pension and other such government schemes as well.
- Assistance in medical aide was also assured (medicines/equipment arrangement and such things), as and when the need arises, if she is made aware of emergencies.
- Depending upon the resources she has under her disposable, she promised full support in areas under her jurisdiction.
Other issues which could not get covered with Ms. Lekhi, due to time constraints: toilets, Anganwadi, etc
- Meenakshi ji responded that she would help with everything, if she can. The last few issues aren't under her control, as they are Jal Board related. But promised to pass such grievance letters to the respective concerned departments and do follow-ups as well.
- Meenakshi ji added that 14th, Mahadev Road is where her office is. And offered to start a camp for the Waste Pickers right there ASAP, if required.
- Before leaving, she requested the government officials, who had joined the hearing, to stay till the very end and to ensure that they share their findings with her office as well by the end of the day.
Issues continued:
• Issue- Lack of shared toilets. They can't get toilets made in their own homes, due to the lack of space. It takes too long to get qued-up for using the public toilets nearest to them. This forces them into open defecation. Even the nursing homes closest to them are surrounded by filth. Open defecation scares them too. Secluded areas are always filled with drug-addicts and criminals.
• Issue- Anganwadi (day care for children of working mothers); Khatoon: No facility to leave their children anywhere, when they have to go to work. If there was an anganwadi near them, they would also love to send their children to get some education, but more importantly, to keep them safe.
• Issue- Clean water; Jharana: No drinking water near their residences. Request to the authorities to install some boring facility or have a tanker come to their locality. If they go to other nearby localities to fill drinking water, they aren’t allowed to get water from there, due to castism and other reasons.
• Issue- Dirty drains; Pramod: They are constantly prone to infections and diseases due to this issue in their localities. Entire streets get flooded with sewage, even more so during the monsoons. Very dangerous living conditions for children. Please help.
• Issue- Schooling, illiteracy; Anwar: Especially secondary education is not available within reasonable distances from their residences
- Govt official’s response: Identity cards process has started. Around 700 or so are already handed over as well. Please go to the South Delhi office for assistance with yours.
• Issue- Funds not being utilized: Maharashtra and Punjab are the only two states that utilize the funds that get allotted to them for Waste Pickers’ help. Please help us by utilizing the govt funds allotted for us.
- Govt official’s response: Water, drains and toilets etc come under them. Please go in large numbers and meet your local MLAs
- Govt official’s response: (To other Govt officials gathered there) Identify all waste pickers and give them IDs.
• Issue- We have hired tempos, filled them with our people and gine in large numbers to our locals MLAs. But always get asked to not crowd public places and go away.
• We must give our problems in writing in respective Govt depts. All of us must meet the concerned people together, in large numbers, under Chintan’s guidance, with the requisite Govt documents.
• Issue- Scholarships- Ex-intern from Chintan- Tarun; There are scholarships available for waste picker’s families. But only three states are utilizing these scholarships.
• Issue- INNFS- Tarun; INNFS is in direct contraction with waste pickers. Landfills have turned into landhills. INNFS burns all the trash, rather than segregation. Which doesn’t even product more than 10% of the amount energy, they had claimed incineration would produce.
- Govt Official’s response; Wet waste mixed with e-waste and other hazardous materials becomes extremely dangerous. Request you all to implement segregation strictly. Especially more during monsoons. The localities around landfills suffer the most when it rains. All municipal corporations must implement segregation.
- South Delhi corporation started issuing IDs. Once you have that, all other facilities, benefits, servicing and training etc will also become accessible to you.
- Request only registered pickers to come for waste-picking in localities. This will make registration a priority and then all waste pickers will start getting the benefits as a result of registration.
• Waste picker, in conclusion: And we all must use our votes for our benefit too. When they come to ask us for votes next, we must first ask them to solve our problems.
More about Chintan:
Website: http://www.chintan-india.org/
Facebook: https://fb.me/ChintanIndia.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChintanIndia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chintan.india/
Winner of the UN Climate Solutions Award, 2015
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