After protests, mayor directs PCMC to ensure no night shifts for women sanitation workers

Pune: Pimpri Chinchwad mayor Ravi Landge has asked the PCMC health department to not assign night shifts to women sanitation workers, following complaints raised by workers, activists and political leaders. The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) had launched a 24x7 cleanliness drive in Jan this year, under which women sanitation workers, particularly those employed through contractors, were assigned shifts from 10pm to 6am. The issue had sparked criticism as many workers objected to the shift timings, raising safety concerns. The matter was also raised during the civic election campaign.Sources said the mayor had initially asked officials to discontinue night cleaning altogether. However, after being briefed about the benefits of round-the-clock cleaning, he instructed the department to at least ensure that women workers are not deployed on night duty.A senior health department official said the civic body has around 2,500 contractual sanitation workers, of whom nearly 250 women were assigned night shifts. "Instructions have been issued to contractors to immediately replace them with male workers. The women workers will be assigned day duties," Pradip Thengal, deputy municipal commissioner and head of the PCMC's health department told TOI. The civic body undertakes mechanised sweeping of major roads, while internal roads are cleaned manually by sanitation staff. Sunny Pawar, vice-president of the Kaamgar Sangharsha Sanghatana union, said the issue had also been raised with the late deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who had at the time instructed civic officials to stop assigning night shifts to women sanitation workers."However, officials allegedly asked contractors to obtain written consent from the women workers stating that they were willing to work in night shifts. They were threatened with removal from the job if they refused," Pawar claimed.The sanitation workers staged a protest outside the PCMC headquarters on Monday and later met the mayor with their demands. In a letter submitted to the municipal corporation, they also sought timely payment of salaries, alleging that wages are often delayed by up to two months and the prescribed pay cycle is not followed. Workers said that instead of being paid before the 10th of every month, salaries are often disbursed between the 20th and 25th of any given month.