The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to hire 7,388 paid workers instead of volunteers for cleaning up slums across all 26 wards. The workers will be hired through a single contractor.
BMC is currently accepting bids until March 7 to select a contractor who will be responsible for paying the workers' wages and supervising their work. The estimated cost of this four-year contract is INR 1,400 crore, or INR 350 crore annually.
The workers will work four hours in the morning and four hours in the evening and will be provided with safety gear. The BMC has stated that the contractor may face penalties if guidelines are broken. This ensures that the contractor maintains a high standard of service.
Of the 7,388 workers, 5,300 will be assigned to door-to-door rubbish collection, gallis cleaning, and sweeping. An additional 1,000 workers will clean drains daily and ensure no trash floats in sewers wider than three feet. Another group of 900 workers will clean at least forty toilet seats and toilets five times a day. The remaining staff will include supervisors, managers, and field operators.
The workers will be paid INR 768 per day and INR 20,000 per month, as per the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. This is a significant increase from the INR 180 per day for 6 hours currently paid to volunteers under the Swachh Mumbai Prabodhan Abhiyan (SMPA) initiative.
The SMPA initiative was introduced in 2013 to replace the unsuccessful Dattak Vasti Yojana. It has been deemed ineffective by many figures. The shift to paid workers will address accountability issues. This is because volunteers cannot be held responsible for their work.
Once the contract is given, the contractor will have to mobilise the staff within 3 months. During this period, the SMPA will continue.
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