Workers’ org opposes slum sanitation tender
MUMBAI: The Mumbai Shahar Berojgar Seva Sahakari Sanstha, a federation of 584 sanitation, waste segregation and allied workers’ societies in the city, has taken the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to court over a tender that will replace nearly 2,300 organisations engaged in cleanliness work in the slums with just one service provider. Fearing they could lose their jobs once the new company comes in, the workers, currently engaged by the BMC as ‘volunteers’ on a measly pay of ₹5,600 per month, have urged the court to cancel the tender. In three hearings held so far, the court has urged the BMC to absorb 30-40% of them under the new tender.
On February 16, BMC floated a tender inviting bids from companies which could, through a workforce of 7,388 personnel, undertake sanitation work in slums across the city, ranging garbage collection, sweeping and cleaning lanes, drains, toilets and common areas in the slums. The tender will replace the Swachh Mumbai Prabodhan Abhiyan (SMPA), under which nearly 2,300 societies of unemployed people provide sanitation services in various slums in the city, according to the Berojgar Sanstha. Many member organisations of the federation are engaged as service providers under the scheme, and workers engaged by them are referred to as ‘volunteers’ and paid ₹5,600 per month.
The tender, on the other hand, promises a minimum wage for workers, estimated at ₹20,000 per month. Its duration is four years, and the estimated cost is ₹1,400 crore, which works out to around ₹350 crore per year. The deadline for submission of bids, already extended thrice, expires on April 3.
In its writ petition submitted before the high court, the Sanstha acknowledged the need to increase the honorarium, but contended the tender was “arbitrary, unreasonable, irrational and discriminatory.”
Aside from fears that the company which comes in may not employ those currently engaged as volunteers, the federation with nearly 50,000 members is upset they cannot bid for the tender despite having the necessary expertise and experience.
“The earnest money deposit (EMD) that bidders need to pay is nearly ₹14 crore, which is way outside our ability,” explained Balasaheb Ghadge, president of the Berojgar Sanstha.
“Workers of the organisations and societies under us have been working for cleanliness in slums since 2005,” said Ghadge, further explaining why workers were upset. “We worked through COVID, for petty sums. Now, when the BMC is finally agreeing to pay minimum wages, we’ve been left out.”
The federation’s lawyer Sanjeel Kadam said the tender violated a directive of the state body dated 2002, which asked governing bodies to provide sanitation work to societies of unemployed people.
The turmoil was visible during the pre-bid meeting on February 22, when 78 organisations including the Sanshta asked for cancellation of the tender.
“Among the five bidders shortlisted by the BMC, the directors of three firms are from the same family,” Kadam said. He added that in the three hearings held so far on March 20, 26 and 28, the court has asked the BMC to consider absorbing 30% to 40% of the Berojgar Sanstha’s workforce into the new tender or make some alternate provisions for their employment.
While the BMC’S affidavit is now awaited on April 18, an official from the civic body’s solid waste management department said that they would wait till the deadline to submit bid expires on Wednesday, following which a call would be taken on the next course of action.
“The high court has not asked us to scrap the tender as yet, so we are going ahead with it,” said another official. “The scale of the tender is massive, as it pertains to slum cleaning in the whole city.”