Hyderabad: Used medical strips, copper wires, cycle tires, iron pieces and disposed resale material provide income for hundreds of scavengers in the city.
Though they are an important part of the city's waste segregation process, their role is ignored by policy makers.
Each group of ragpickers claims ownership of their “locality”, and protect their turf. Mostly they look for metals, electric motors, steel and plastic scrap. Copper is highly prized as it fetches more money.
Currently, 1 kg of iron fetches Rs 30 and each bottle is sold for 50 paisa. Plastic bottles are collected, compressed and sold.
Ramulu (17), a rag picker who lives in Begumpet Railway Station, said, “I ran away from a government orphan home when I was eight, then worked at different tea stalls, then as a cleaner before the dumping ground became my occupation. I wake up at 3 am and collect waste in the small dumping yard adjacent to the station up to 8 or 9 am. I sell the scrap and every day I get around Rs 80-100. All one needs is a bag and a stick to segregate.”
Hundreds of ragpickers live in a row of huts near the Jawaharnagar dumping yard. Most of them have come to the city from Kurnool and Mahabubnagar in search of livelihood.
Ms Sakkullamma, rag picker at Jawaharnagar said, “Each one of us collects about 40-50 kg of waste every day, a kilo of discarded milk sachets or plastic fetches Rs 10, whereas metal objects like zippers or cans are Rs 50 per kg. Earlier, it used to take me at least three days to collect a kilo of metal, but now I collect close to 10 kg of metal a day.”
Some ragpickers get paid the same day while others over the weekend. “I insist that I get paid the same day for my food, chai and cigarettes. I shift between footpaths, bridges, traffic islands and various shops every day, there’s no permanent place,” added Mr Santhu, a ragpicker near the Patny bus stop.
