Statesman News Service
MALDA, March 5: The English Bazaar Municipality (EBM) has recruited a huge number of casual workers for the post of sweeper. However, a large proportion of these employees refuse to sweep, opting instead to supervise the sweepers - creating a ridiculous imbalance between 'Babu sweepers' and original sweepers.
The situation means that despite the large number of workers recruited, the residents of several EBM wards are not getting serviced due to the lack of sweepers. The chairman of the EBM, Mr Narendranath Tiwari, has warned councilors not to recruit youths who refuse to sweep and establish themselves as 'Babu sweepers'. Recently, a group of residents of ward no 16 alleged that six ‘Babu Sweepers’ were running after one original sweeper. These six 'supervisors' refuse to clean the drains. The chairman admitted the problem and said that wards no five to 19 are especially suffering from a surfeit of such 'Babu sweepers'. “I have asked the councilors to terminate these contractual workers”, he added.
Councilors, however, say they are in no position to discontinue their casual workers' contracts, as they are under pressure from their respective party leaders following the EBM's decision to increase the remuneration of all casual workers in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. The chairman of the EBM said: “On 25 February the board of EBM councilors decided to increase the minimum wage of casual workers from Rs 45 per day to Rs 55 per day." More than 1,000 casual workers are employed by the EMB under various sectors.
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