HYDERABAD: Three waste pickers, who went to collect recyclable plastic from the Jawahar Nagar dumping yard on the city outskirts, were feared to have been buried under heaps of garbage after the trio went missing since on Tuesday.
According to police, three women from Yellareddyguda in Kushaiguda went to collect plastic from the garbage on Tuesday morning but did not return. The three women are Shantamma, Andalu and Ankamma.
Kushaiguda police inspector V Srikanth Goud said the relatives of the three missing women went searching at the dump yard and found the bags they carried to collect plastic. The three women, however, were not found and it is suspected they might have come under garbage heaps which keep sliding from the top occasionally.
Police with help of municipal authorities launched a massive search using heavy machines and removing garbage heaps but could not trace the missing women. “It is not sure whether the women came under the sliding garbage mountains at the place where their bags were found,’’ an official said. Officials said the women might die if they got trapped under the garbage pile or even due to suffocation. At some places, the garbage heaps keeps on burning and if the women got buried there, it is even difficult to find their remains.
In May 2010, three children from Alwal got buried under heaps of garbage and their bodies could not be traced even after a massive search operation. Just a few days before the death of the three children, a woman rag-picker also got buried under the garbage and her body could not be traced.
Municipal officials said rag pickers trespass into the dumping yard from the rear side with security deployed at the main entrance. They said the lure to get good amount of recyclable plastic and other resalable material from the garbage attract rag-pickers to venture inside.
Kushaiguda police registered a missing case and are assisting municipal authorities in tracing the bodies.
Waste pickers such as these women that went missing on Tuesday, are the very reason that India has better recycling rates than countries like Germany. However, they put their lives at risk to achieve this. Worse, their children are left to help support the family, and will likely not be able to afford the time for school.
This cycle of poverty, engendered today by the dangerous working conditions of waste pickers, can be interrupted with Waste Ventures' model. Women like Shantamma, Andalu and Ankamma would not have to go to the dumpsite, and would be able to collect the segregated waste in a clean manner directly from people's doorsteps. They would be guaranteed safe access to valuable recyclables, and earn 3 times more than before by selling organic waste to be processed into compost and collecting a household fee for service.
Events such as this one serve as a reminder of the urgency with which we need to bring our model to waste pickers working under these conditions.
