Vijayawada: Workers protest at Government General Hospital

Vijayawada: Tension prevailed at the Government General Hospital, Vijayawada on Thursday where around 200 contract sanitary workers staged a protest at the mortuary demanding justice for the families of two workers of Pedala Venkateswara Rao and Koganti Rambabu who died cleaning blocked drain at H.B Colony on Wednesday. Kin of the deceased, along with Citu and other trade unions have refused to collect the bodies after post-mortem demanding the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) to give a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to each family. Family members of Rambabu blamed officials of the VMC.

Koganti Madhavi, wife of Rambabu, reminded the last moments she spent with her husband. “We are actually in talks for our daughter’s marriage. My husband left home after getting a call from VMC engineers. He always cares for family and he is saving every single penny for our daughter’s marriage,” she said. “We not only lost our father but we lost our livelihood because of negligence of the VMC. Officials have forced our father to clear the drains without safety which cost his life. Civic body should do justice,” says K. Vijayachand, son of Rambabu.

Officials and representatives of the VMC who are facing criticism for using manual workers for cleaning drains have visited the family members after 28 hours of the incident. Vijayawada city mayor Koneru Sridhar assured to pay '2 lakh each on behalf of VMC. He also assured a house under JNNURM housing scheme and a contract job for the family member. The Employee State Insurance Scheme gave them Rs 15,000 for funeral expenses and chief engineer Ankaiah and contractor Srinivasa Rao signed an agreement to pay the compensation.

The family members later accepted the proposal of the VMC and collected the bodies. Venkateswarulu’s family members donated his eyes to the LV Prasad Eye Hospital.

VMC blamed for deaths:

Trade unions and contract workers have alleged that poor equipment with the VMC is the major reason for the death of the workers. “We have been working with contractors from years but no one gave us protective masks. Officials of the VMC always rush us to clean the drains as their equipment fails most often,” says Srinu, a worker. “More than 12 workers lost their lives in Vijayawada, cleaning drains. The VMC is not in a position to respect the Supreme Court orders nor acts made by the union government,”says CH. Babu Rao, CPM state secretariat member.

VMC commissioner and Mayor should focus on implementing mechanised drain cleaning before publicising on international smart city, he said. However, officials of the VMC had condemned the allegation made by trade unions. “VMC has 10 high-power ‘Áirtech machines’ to clean blocked drains. Manual workers are only used under rare circumstances. The contractor should provide necessary safety equip-ment,”says a senior official of the VMC.