If the streets of Kurnool city are clean and people could breathe easy during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is due to the untiring work done by the ground-level sanitation workers and only when they are given the place they deserve, the entire system can be run properly, believes Kurnool Municipal Corporation.
To make them feel wanted in society, and the administration cares for their feelings, Municipal Commissioner D.K. Balaji began a new tradition of celebrating the birthdays of all sanitation workers in a division on the last day of every month. “There were instances when they came to tears as never in their life their birthday was celebrated anywhere. We make them cut a cake, honour them with a shawl and present them with something that is useful for their household,” Mr. Balaji told The Hindu.
This small gesture brought a massive change in the behaviour of these workers in all the 15 divisions of the city resulting in a lower number of complaints against them. As a tribute to the exemplary work done by the sanitation workers during the COVID-19 pandemic when the Kurnool municipal limits was the hotspot of COVID-19 and the entire country’s eyes were on it, statues of an ordinary male and female frontline sanitation worker were installed at the busy Puchhalapalli Sundaraiah Junction to immortalise their contribution, he observed.
Garbage collection
Very soon an NGO will start composting wet waste from the city and give some percentage from the sale proceeds or contribute in the form of manure needed for the KMC’s parks. The door-to-door garbage collection would also be made more effective by bringing in a minivan adding to the battery-powered auto to remove all transit points.
To reduce its carbon footprint, seven electric cars have been bought for the KMC officers and one of the best things to happen in 2020 was setting up of a Quality Control Lab that can check/audit civil and engineering works, which were hitherto done only by a third-party.
Meanwhile, renovation of all KMC and R&B Roads within the city were made at a cost of ₹10 crore, Mr. Balaji said.
Oximeters did the trick
The fatality rate in Kurnool city, which once touched 28%, suddenly showed a sharp decline from July end and now it stands only at 1.05% thanks to the charity from Rural Development Trust, Anantapur, who donated 3,000 oximeters. “We equipped each and every volunteer and Ward Secretariat staff with Oximeter and began door-to-door survey every day to monitor the condition of those above 60 or with any comorbid condition. Any suspicion about anyone’s saturation levels, they were brought to a hospital, which saw a decline in fatalities,” Mr. Balaji observed.
