Dear Rajan,
We are all agreeing here that the Government should focus on basic amenities
first. The difference in opinion here is to whom... the Goan or the outsider.
In my understanding, we need the migrants, and we need them because there are a
lot of jobs in Goa that the Goan's aren't prepared to do. And while this
attitude continues, we will continue to have migrants coming in to fill in the
gaps of available jobs.
I was asked to help the Corporation of the city of Panjim from 2005 to 2007
manage their waste. So what I'm writing is from personal experiences... backed
with data and pictures. Little over 180 staff are employed just to clear away
the city's garbage. Of this figure just 54 are Goans, (approx 12 christians, 5
muslim and rest hindu). (list of names and duties can be provided on request).
While there is ample job opportunities for Goans in this stream of work, its
always unoccupied and left to the so called 'ghatis' to take it up. Almost all
the Goans employed belong to a backward caste. Seems that we Goan's love to
complain about not having jobs and how the migrants are taking it, but jobs
involving sanitation, construction, road work are always reserved for the low
caste and the 'ghatis'.
When moving around with the sanitation workers in Panjim, I noticed that Panjim
has a large number of rag-pickers... primarily because the city separates at
source, therefore providing a very high quality of non-contaminated recyclable
waste. The ratio at times is 1 worker to 1 rag-picker. The sanitation worker is
happy as the rag-picker helps him carry the waste bin, and empties a
substantial portion of the bin. The city officials are also happy that there is
a reduction of 75% of dry (recyclable) waste that would otherwise go to a
landfill that does not exist. On my (and a few others) insistence, the city
even set up a few sorting centres (1 opp the ITI Bldg at Altinho, 1 near Fakri
Manzil, Miramar and the main and biggest one within the Animal Shelter at St.
Inez).
In a typical sorting center, bins (or Trucks) filled with dry waste are emptied into a heap and then separated into as many as 38 different fractions of recyclable products. When we employed city sanitation staff, we had to deal with late attendance, long tea breaks, frequent absence, and low speed of work. Rag-pickers on the other hand, wanted to work for no pay... working through the nights and at a very high efficiency. The rag-pickers have enabled a lot of new items to be separated (for free) from landfill waste such as tetrapak cartons and batteries.
Rag-pickers dont live and work on the street because they like to, its because
of their financial situation. Working in a cleaner environment such as a
sorting center, with source separated waste (no mixed bio-medical or organic or
industrial waste) reduces their working hazard, and generates some income from
the sale of the recyclable items they pick. I think that a city with many rag
pickers is a healthy sign that the city is recycling its waste inspite of no
help from the citizens. And this is just one example of the usefulness of a
certain migrant community.
Remove all the migrants and the city will stop functioning in a few weeks if
not days:
Your house construction will remain incomplete as the migrants were sent away.
The approach road to your home will deteriorate as the contractor from kerala
has no labour.
If a water pipeline bursts, or your broadband connection isn't laid, its
because there was nobody to dig the trench.
If you go to Miramar, and don't feel like spending 60 Rs for some bhelpuri at a
restaurant, who would sell some to you for 7-10Rs instead?
If you as a normal Goan lacking civic sense would throw a empty pet bottle of
soda on the street, it would lie there until the rain or wind took it into the
clogging drain.
No rag-pickers means that all the shopkeepers would have problems disposing
their empty cartons.. with no space in their already encroached premises, they
would simply block off the rest of the footpath.
No rag-pickers means that the city has 75% more waste to dispose into landfill.
Is there any city in India functioning waste-wise without rag-pickers?
If your sewage tank is overfull, who would do the dirty job or emptying it?
If there is an unclaimed human body discovered someplace, who would be given
the task of disposing it away?
Criticize that the Goan's are simply not willing to work in these jobs.
Criticize that the Government isn't providing awareness in basic civic sense to
Goans as well as the useful migrant rag-picker. Criticize that the Govt. is not
providing basic housing and sanitation to the poor and homeless people that are
left to fend for themselves and set up slums to eek out an existence. Or even
better...do something to make a change rather than criticize.
Clinton..
+46762976399
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Stockholm, Sweden
Message: 7
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:31:59 -0800 (PST)
From: "Rajan P. Parrikar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Goanet] BREAKING NEWS: Azad Maidan unavailable this
morning
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
To Goanet -
Frederick Noronha wrote:
>Actually, the "ragpickers" are people who sort through the mounds of paper
>waste, that comes in each morning and evening, as packing for newspapers
>sold in the locality. Is it better if these wastes were taken and dumped at
>Cura, Dona Paula or wherever?
Precisely why I want the municipality and the Goa govt to get their
act together, and devise ways & means to address these problems.
You and your Marxist cohorts would have us believe that the fix
lies in having a permanent settlement of ghati ragpickers squatting
on the pavements ringing the Maidan. You fellows would have us
drown in ghati excrement without demur, calculating that any
objector can be embarrassed into silence by labeling him/her
"anti-poor."
Sorry, berther, that won't work. The ghatis can go back to
wherever they came from. I would first like to get my Goan
house in order, make sure that fellow Goans have their
basic needs met. If and when I have surplus left over, we
will be more than pleased to share it with the less fortunate
elsewhere.
>Rajan is clearing missing (a significant) part of the picture, and his
>US-returned arrogance makes him unable to see it. FN
Oooh, that's a devastating indictment, man. Bwahahahahaha.
Warm & humble regards,
r
