Mumbai conservancy staff dying at faster rate

During 2007-08, the city lost 246 safai karmacharis — people who spend their lives scouring the filth off the streets — or more than 20 on an average every month, compared to 247 in the previous year. The toll was 246 in 2005-06 and 288 in the year before that for the workers employed in the solid waste management department of BMC.

In January last year, a petition in the Bombay High Court had forced BMC to introduce reforms to control the high mortality rate. This included regular supply of protective gear, medical facilities and insurance, upgraded conservancy chowkies with basic amenities and a project to ensure housing to help improve the lives of the 27,000-odd conservancy workers.

But as the statistics show, the the death rate has failed to dip proportionately. BMC officials, however, said it was too soon to judge the efficacy of these measures.

Of the 119 employees who passed away in first six months (April 07-September 07), the cause of death for 20 are unknown, BMC records showed. In 55 cases, it is related to occupational diseases and hazards. Pulmonary tuberculosis and liver disease arising out of alcoholism has claimed the highest casualty each, leading to 27 and 14 deaths respectively.

The rest have died of various reasons such as pneumonia, gastroenteritis, leptospirosis, rheumatic heart disease, jaundice and respiratory diseases. There are no cohesive records to explain the deaths of the rest as BMC has stopped collating them, officials said.

One of the names on the list of dead workers is that of Mahendra Kamble, who was a scavenger at Matunga for the last 10 years until he died at the age of 33 in April last year.

Civic records list his cause of death as tuberculosis. “We had got him admitted at least five times to different hospitals but he...