‘Swacchta campaign fine, but what about sanitation workers?’

Mocking BJP's 'Swacch Bharata Abhiyan', the Shiv Sena on Wednesday said septic tanks in the city have turned into gas chambers.

In an editorial in Sena's mouthpiece Saamna, it mentioned that despite the ongoing clamour of cleanliness, it's not clear whether anyone really cares about sanitation workers who lose their lives while on duty.

Though the party didn't name anyone, yet the hint was clear that the taunts were directed towards the Centre's mega clean-up drive.

This came two days after three municipal sanitary workers died due to suffocation after getting trapped in a septic tank which they were cleaning on the premises of a high-rise building in the suburban areas of Govandi.

Further, the Sena asked whether anyone will be able to fathom the anger and agony of families of municipal workers and labourers, who die in such unfortunate conditions.

The Sena alleged that neither the administration nor the society is sensitive towards the fact, that procedure of cleanliness has become a messenger of death for the true ambassadors of cleanliness.

Labelling septic tanks as gas chambers, the editorial further remarked that such incidents occur not only in Mumbai but also in parts of Maharashtra like Thane, Kalyan and Nagpur. It also mentioned, similar cases were reported in states outside Maharashtra like Gujarat, UP and Tamil Nadu.

“From the Centre to citizens, everyone has become a proponent of cleanliness. But as long as practice is concerned, nobody really does that,” stated the editorial.

However, the Saamna tirade came as an irony as the remarks were made by the party which runs the richest civic body, BMC. A Sena corporator, on condition of anonymity, said though it is Sena that rules the BMC, the state government has an upper hand in its functioning. “The government also play a major role in BMC’s functioning. Thus, under the previous regime not everyone could work free-handedly as per their wish,” said the corporator.

‘Neither administration nor society sensitive towards the fact, that procedure of cleanliness has become a messenger of death for the true ambassadors of cleanliness,’ it said.