GHMC sanitation men exposed to Covid risk
Nearly 200 times. That is the number of times — in just one week — when the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board left contracted employees hired to clean choked sewer lines, as well as passersby, potentially vulnerable to the dreaded Covid19 disease in locations around Gandhi General Hospital.
Though it has now been well-established by the scientific community that novel coronavirus is expelled by patients suffering from
Covid-19 through faeces, there was no communication or warnings issued to the sewer cleaning crews on duty around the hospital. Incidentally, all the silt that is removed after such clean-ups, is normally left right next to the manholes instead of being collected and safely disposed of. It is a common sight in the city to see people walking past such sewage silt piles and vehicles driving over them. Neither the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) nor the State Health Department has issued a specific advisory on the potential for contracting the disease from sewage discharges from the hospital, leaving the water board to follow conventional methods of cleaning choked sewers and depositing the silt and other waste removed from manhole junctions by the wayside. Though a separate system of contractors is supposed to evacuate such silt within a specified period, this is practically never done.
Admitting that no instructions were issued on additional safety measures for clean-up crews, including those who de-silt the nalas in the city into which the sewer lines empty, a senior Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation official said: “We will take the issue to the notice of higher authorities for alternative mechanism or put desilting on hold for a period of two weeks. Until next instructions are received, de-silting of nalas will continue.” The GHMC official also said instructions will be given to de-silting agencies to add sanitizers to the existing safety gear.
He, however, made it clear that public safety in terms of health issues remains the responsibility of the State Health Department. While cleaning up of sewer lines is the responsibility of HMWS&SB, cleaning up of nalas is the GHMC’s responsibility. Within the city itself, a whopping 39,688.50 cubic metres of silt – that also contains faecal matter is removed each year from various nalas.