About one thousand cleaners of the Rajshahi City Corporation are exposed to serious health hazards as they are unprotected against germs and sharp objects while cleaning municipal wastes.
The cleaners complained that they contract various skin diseases and sustain injuries in the legs and hands from glasses, sharp woods, metals and other sharp objects.
According to the RCC conservancy department, there are 924 cleaners to clean the municipal wastes in the city corporation areas at present.
Among them, 180 carry garbage in rickshaws and vans, 77 carry the wastes in garbage trucks, 186 sweep the lanes and by-lanes at the 30 wards of the city corporation, 145 clean important roads, 46 clean markets and bazars, 20 clean offices, 242 clean drains and 28 female cleaners.
The RCC cleaners alleged that the city corporation provided them with gumboots, masks, and gloves six to seven years ago and now all of them have become unusable.
They are now working without these necessaries, exposing themselves to serious health risks, they added.
Professor Bulbul Ahmed of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital told New Age that the garbage contains many germs which cause various respiratory diseases.
‘Besides, the cleaners have to carry the medical wastes which also pose serious threat to their health,’ he added.
Abul Fazal, civil surgeon of Rajshahi, told New Age that the cleaners of Rajshahi City Corporation are under the threat of various health hazards.
‘Initiatives should be taken by the city corporation authorities in this regard immediately,’ he added.
Akber Ali, general secretary of Rajshahi City Corporation Workers’ Union, told New Age that in 1998 a primary health centre was founded to meet the long-awaited demand of the cleaners but the authorities closed the centre when the RCC main office was shifted to its new building.
He said they met the mayor several times in this regard but he told them that there was no room for the medical centre at new Rajshahi City Corporation building.
When contacted, chief conservancy officer of Rajshahi City Corporation Sheik Mohammad Mamun Dollar, admitting to the sufferings of the cleaners, said they had given to
the workers some gumboots, noose masks, and hand gloves but the workers did not use these instruments.
As dwellers of Rajshahi City Corporation, the cleaners and workers get medical services from ward medical centres, urban medical heath complexes and this is why there is no need to found medical centre for the cleaners, he added.
