AMARAVATI: The decision of AP Corporation for Outsources Services (APCOS) to implement retirement age has rendered many sanitation workers jobless.
APCOS was set up to improve livelihoods of part-time workers in the state by giving freedom from extortion of private agencies which handled sanitation contracts in urban local bodies.
Workers were allowed to continue in service till they were physically capable of handling work in the previous system. “They removed us from service after making us work almost 24x7 during Covid-19,” said Ch Anandaiah of Ongole. He is the lone breadwinner in the family of three with an ailing wife and physically challenged son. The plight of many workers who were let go is similar.
Majority of sanitation workers live in urban slums in rented houses and it is extremely difficult to manage day-to-day expenses even if one or two other members of the family were also working. More than 800 sanitation workers died due to Covid-19 in the last 14 months as none of them were eligible to get medical aid on par with the regular employees.
“Except for declaring them as frontline warriors, the government has not even paid ex gratia to the kin of the victims’ families,” said P Ramarao, CPI(M) leader.
Before APCOS, trade union leaders used to get either extension for the retired worker or employment to another family member by negotiating with municipal commissioner and contractor. “We too feel sorry for them as we are unable to help them as the services were tied up with the APCOS,” said a municipal commissioner.
According to a senior official, only 5 to 10 per cent of sanitation workers in urban local bodies are on regular pay rolls of the civic bodies while remaining are on outsourcing basis. While many regular workers skipped work fearing Covid-19, it was outsourced workers who handled the situation.
