SHILLONG: The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, which is on a two-day visit to Shillong, has urged local sweepers to shift to the government quarters constructed for them.
The panel, headed by Valjibhai Zala, on Monday held a review meeting with the chief secretary and senior officials of the different departments to discuss about the welfare of sweepers in the city.
The state government has built 84 quarters for the sweepers at the site where the temporary office of the Shillong Municipal Board is located. After the flare-up over the Harijan Colony incident, Urban Affairs Minister Hamlet Dohling had visited the quarters last year. He had said the quarters would be allotted once the civic board gets a permanent office at Jail Road.
However, many municipal employees residing at Harijan Colony had refused to shift.
“They should shift to the quarters which the government has built as it has better infrastructure and their lives will change,” Zala said, adding that attempts will be made to allocate more quarters to them under the Awaas Yojana.
The National Commission asked the government to constitute a state commission for safai karamcharis, besides a monitoring committee with representation from the sweepers.
During the meeting, many sweepers lamented that part-time cleaners are getting a meager amount of Rs 3,200 and the commission asked the state government to pay them as per the minimum wage of the Labour Act.
Zala also recommended that sweepers should be referred to as Meghalaya or Shillong beautifiers or Swacchta Sainik and the government assured to look into the matter.
When asked for a suggestion to keep Shillong city clean, Zala said apart from the cleaners, people of Shillong should also come forward to keep the city clean.
