Ragpickers to play vital role in city’s waste mgmt chain

SWACHH BHARAT LMC to employ them to segregate waste during collection

LUCKNOW: Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, ragpickers are set to become an essential part of the state capital’s waste management chain. The Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) will soon entrust them with the important task of segregating the waste collected from houses in all the wards of the city.

For this purpose, the LMC has decided to survey areas where ragpickers reside and speak to them.

The survey will give officials an idea of the total number of ragpickers in the city and the exact nature of their work. It will also help identify illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, many of whom are a part of the trade, said officials.

Stressing on the importance of what can be achieved through this initiative, municipal commissioner Udairaj Singh said, “If Lucknow has to meet its target of entering the top 10 clean cities of the country, it is important for ragpickers to be involved in a more organised way.”

Additional municipal commissioner PK Srivastava said, “Lucknow produces around 1,500 metric tonnes of solid waste everyday. And as waste segregation has not taken off in our city, there’s a continuous increase in this statistic. Only around 30% waste gets treated, while the rest remains untreated at the landfill site.”

LMC will employ ragpickers to segregate waste during doorto-door collection. “This will also help in generating power from waste. The right kind of waste, which can be used as raw material for power generation, can be segregated in advance,” said an official.

So far, ragpickers have only worked informally, generating income by selling waste to scrap dealers. However, there’s no job security, guaranteed salary or dignity of labour associated with their work. “But regulation of rag picking can give them money as well as social recognition,” said PK Srivastava.

“The LMC will not only give them employment , but will also take better care of them. As of now, they are regularly exposed to infection, respiratory diseases and maladies like tuberculosis,” he added.