As the city got termed as the epicentre of the swine flu, it turned precautious and went a step ahead in maintaining the hygiene that would save them from the deadly virus – people washed hands, they changed masks and ate healthy food. What many of them forgot is to sterilise the used masks or pack the garbage and throw. Despite running a high risk of getting infected by the garbage, waste-pickers went ahead with their duties -- some out of compulsion, while other out of responsibility. “I have heard about the hazards that one is exposed to. I have also heard about the number of lives that the virus has claimed, but is this, by any means, a reason for us to stop working. While swine flu gives us one reason to stay aloof of garbage, our responsibility to keep the society clean and our need to retain the job gives us two reasons to work. What bothers us is that there is no one to guide us and provide us those masks as we clean they garbage. Not even the municipality provided us the reusable masks,” says Sanjay Sham Pardeshi, a waste-picker in Aundh.

The municipality garbage collectors need special appreciation in this regard. The H1N1 virus after being declared to have spread through dirt and garbage, city witnessed apt precautions taken by the citizens. However, the garbage collectors, who have the waste as an indivisible part of their life, among the ones, who were not even aware of the precautionary measures that they were suppose to take. They roam around in the city with their garbage trolleys in the allotted places and collect the waste, which they further separate into dry and wet filth and dumped onto the garbage truck.

... contd.