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Delhi High Court on the 1st of June, directed the Government of India as well as the Delhi Government to produce affidavits with regard to the steps taken by the respective governments in order to ensure that municipal workers or the “safai karamcharis” are safe amidst the COVID-19 pandemic as they are the most vulnerable to the infection.
The Division Bench of the Delhi High Court consisting of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad directed the respondents that they have to file affidavits within one week. This decision came after a writ petition was filed by Mr. Harnam Singh regarding the safety and well-being of these workers.
The Court also opined that the respondents, that are the authorities concerned, must also inform the Court if the sanitizing cubicles are installed in every ward or not and also if the safai karamcharis are adequately sanitized at the end of the day or not
The Petitioners in their petition have also raised the issue involving the bio-medical waste that is generated and it has been brought to the attention of the Court that bio-medical waste is dumped along with the regular waste and it involves used and probably infected PPE kits, masks, and gloves and thus raises a question of the safety of safai karamcharis who are involved in scavenging.
The High Court also pointed out to submission by the learned counsel for the Union of India to the Govt. of NCT of Delhi that there is only a minor discrepancy with regard to the supply of the PPE kits, N95 masks, and gloves, etc by the Union of India to the Govt. of NCT of Delhi.
The Court also took note of the Status Reports that were filed by the Delhi Government, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and North Delhi Municipal Corporation (Nr.DMC) and held that they were incomplete as they lacked in many aspects like there was no exact number of the safai karamcharis in each jurisdiction and the amount of PPE kits, masks and gloves available for these karamcharis. In addition to this lacuna, also the affidavits fail to mention the containment zones in each jurisdiction and thus it is difficult to analyze the number of safai karamcharis vulnerable to the infections and whether there is adequate mechanism to take care for them in more critical areas.
Thus, the above authorities are presented with the last opportunity to produce affidavits before the Court within a week with regard to the issues raised by the Court. The Court has also directed the authorities that a competent Officer should be present to assist the Court in the next hearing that any query that might be raised might be answered then and there without further adjournment. This matter would now be heard on the 9th of June 2020.
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