The workers engaged in the cleaning up of beaches in Pernem taluka seem to be a worried lot. There are around 25-30 workers employed as beach cleaners on a contract basis by Bhumika Cleantech Services Private Limited, who work from 8 am to 6 pm on the beaches of Pernem from Morjim till Querim. These workers allege that the company is acting in an irresponsible manner and is biased towards them.
When Herald contacted these beach cleaners they appeared to be unhappy. They accused the company of ill-treating them and further alleged that the company had even told them to leave the job if they wished to do so.
A worker complained saying, “We receive salaries after over two months and that too it gets delayed by 15 days or so. As per the contract, the company is supposed to pay salaries by 5th of each month which was followed only for a year and from this year onwards they have delayed the salaries. Even after doing the same work, there is discrimination in salary, as some workers get paid more while others are paid less.” The workers further allege that they are not provided with the much needed safety equipment and that they were given hand gloves two years ago, which are now in bad shape. They further complained that they were not even provided with shoes during beach cleaning work.
They further informed about an incident wherein one of the workers accidentally got injected by a syringe which was dumped in the garbage.
The workers allege that they are not provided medical facilities and first aid and added that the garbage collected by them is still lying on the beach since the last four-five months and accused the company of failing to dispose off the same. They complain that sometimes, only half of the garbage is lifted while the remaining is left on the beaches, which is an eyesore to the locals and tourists visiting the beaches.
The stray animals feast on the left over waste and litter it as the supervisors who come for a check up do not bother to dispose the same, they allege.With the season already underway, the beaches are full of garbage. Foul odour has started emanating from the garbage littered along the beach.
When contacted, the company agent Guru, who has hired these workers on a contract basis refuted the allegations saying, “The Company has provided first aid and cleaning equipment to the beach cleaners. Whenever the equipment such as gloves gets spoilt, we change the same with new ones. But the delay in the payment is due to the slow government procedure. The company gets the payments late due to which the salary of the beach cleaners is delayed”. He further said, “Earlier the beach garbage was disposed off at the Saligao waste treatment plant. Along with the garbage, the sand too gets accumulated with it, which results in machine problems. Hence the officials at Saligao have stopped taking garbage and for this reason garbage still lies accumulated at the beaches”.
