GHMC to penalise the high absenteeism among sanitation workers

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) may soon start penalizing sanitation workers for high absenteeism, which has reportedly become an unmanageable task for officials.

It has been reported that orders have been issued to penalize self-help groups (SHGs) acting as outsourcing organizations in the recruitment of sweepers for absenteeism. Officials, on condition of anonymity, shared that in every circle where there is more than 50% absenteeism, ₹2,000 will be deducted from the salary amount to be deposited in the SHG’s account.

Authorities justified the punitive action by saying high absenteeism among city sanitation workers was negatively impacting road sweeping services.

Officials said memos have already been sent to Medical Assistants in each circuit seeking explanations for over 20% absences.

“In a few areas, we noticed only one sweeper instead of a group of seven. Several workers turn up every 15-20 days to avoid losing their jobs. Moonlighting and side jobs have become a trend, which is adversely affecting the hygiene of the city,” said a senior official.

Menial jobs have become more attractive than road sweeping to the few workers who don’t mind losing a few days of pay each month and can make it up elsewhere.

Road sweeping contracts have been awarded to SHGs since 2012 following the termination of existing contracts with outsourcing organizations to provide sweeping manpower. The decision was taken in view of the exploitation resorted to by the institutions by deploying fewer sweepers than shown on paper and forcing them to work more hours, paying only a fraction of the sanctioned wages. In a bid to eliminate agencies, the then Special Commissioner Naveen Mittal announced that the overall contract would be given to any group of seven women coming together to form an SHG.

More than 18,000 sanitation workers in GHMC are currently organized among more than 2,600 SHGs, with one or two women from each group serving as leaders. Salary amounts are deposited into the leaders’ account, which will be distributed among the sweepers. This system eliminated exploitation due to fair power dynamics between SHG partners.

Apart from absenteeism, deaths and employee leakages are another problem the company has to deal with. With the manpower agencies gone, the task of finding new staff fell on the GHMC. Government approval is awaited even for this post, as corruption is rife in the recruitment process.

The government recently approved approximately 4,300 vacant positions to be filled by relatives of deceased workers. Officials informed that department-level committees have been formed, with Deputy Commissioner, AMOH and District Commissioner as members, who will recruit the workers.