Prakash Singh Vidrohi told, "Non-Valmiki workers are not performing the basic sanitation work; the entire burden falls on the Valmiki community. This has caused anger within the community."
Jodhpur – Sanitation workers in the Jodhpur Municipal Corporation have been angry for the past month. The movement, led by the All India Safai Mazdoor Congress, has now taken a unique form in the harsh winter. The organization’s district president, Sardar Prakash Singh Vidrohi, staged a semi-naked, barefoot protest in front of Baba Saheb’s statue at the Nagauri Gate intersection on Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar’s death anniversary. He declared, “I will not wear clothes or slippers until the Municipal Commissioner implements the 2018 written agreement to employ non-Valmiki workers in basic sanitation work.” This protest not only reinforces the sanitation workers’ three-point demands but also sends a powerful message against the increasing burden on the Valmiki community.
Jodhpur has approximately 3,300 sanitation workers, of which 700 They belong to the non-Valmiki community. These non-Valmiki employees are being removed from the basic work of cleaning and assigned other responsibilities, the entire burden of which has fallen on the employees of the Valmiki community. The scope of the earlier 60 wards has now increased to 100, due to which the work pressure has doubled. On November 15, the corporation administration suddenly changed the wards of 2000 sanitation workers, against which the fire of protest erupted. Prakash Singh Vidrohi told ‘The Mooknayak’, “Non-Valmiki employees are not doing the basic work of cleaning, the entire burden falls on the Valmiki community. This has caused anger in the community. Corporation Commissioner Siddharth Palanichamy did not even listen to the public representatives. A few days ago, in the presence of MLAs Atul Bhansali and Devendra Joshi, a promise was made to reinstate all employees in their original positions and to assign women and disabled persons to the nearest wards, but this was not followed through.
The agitation began with a high-voltage uproar at the corporation office on Thursday. Two rounds of talks between the organization and the commissioner failed, after which no agreement was reached despite several hours of negotiations. On Friday, a sit-in protest began outside the corporation commissioner’s office under the banner of the Valmiki Joint Struggle Committee. Police were deployed at the main gate to prevent protesters from entering. Throughout the day, leaders raised slogans and questioned the corporation’s working style.
Anil Teji stated that the three-point demands are: (1) cancel the ward changes of 2,000 employees; (2) cancel the 2018 in-charge positions; (3) assign 700 non-Valmiki employees to their original sanitation work. Naresh Kandara warned, “Demands If they don’t agree, we’ll go on a broom-down strike.” On Saturday, Vidrohi’s half-naked Satyagraha in the cold marked a new turning point in the movement. This movement is not only a fight for the rights of sanitation workers, but also a question of dignity and equality for the Valmiki community.
Geetha Sunil Pillai
Courtesy: Hindi News