Bhubaneswar: Department of Housing and Urban Development together with Urban Management Centre (UMC), organized a day long orientation program for training of volunteers, to be engaged in enumeration of core sanitation workers under the scheme ‘Garima’. Safai Karmachari Andolan, an organisation working in the sanitation sector, has been roped in to carry out the survey in six pilot cities namely Puri, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Berhampur through these volunteers.
As the scheme envisages, the survey shall be conducted in a comprehensive manner for identification of the core sanitation workers working in both formal and informal sector. Once identified, these workers shall be registered and their work will be regulated which will help to get a range of work and social security benefits. The survey will be the first of its kind and aims to set precedence for other ULBs in following a standard and extensive enumeration procedure for identification of these frontline workers.
Thirty-five volunteers from across the six pilot cities attended the orientation program. At the beginning of the program, they were provided with an exposure to objectives of the scheme and the different categories of core sanitation work, covered under the scheme.
Bezwada Wilson, founder and national convener of the Safai Karmachari Andolan, graced the orientation program and sensitised the volunteers on objective of the survey and motivated them to give a fair and thorough contribution in the identification process. Among others Lingaraj Sarangi, Joint Secretary and H Rasmita Patel, Odisha Head of Urban Management Centre (UMC) were present.
Post the introductory session, the volunteers were provided with a comprehensive understanding of the format in which the survey is to be conducted. A mobile based application is going to be used to by the enumerators for the survey.
A hands-on training to its operations was also given to them and their feedbacks were recorded. At the end of the program, the volunteers willing to participate in the enumeration were asked to report in their respective ULBs.