Sanitary workers in Ongole demand scrapping of facial recognition-based attendance system
The Hindu
Many do not have a smart phone, they say
Sanitary workers staged a demonstration in front of the Prakasam Bhavan in Ongole on January 30 (Monday) demanding withdrawal of the facial recognition-based attendance system.
Leading the protest, Andhra Pradesh Municipal Workers Union(APMWU) State General Secretary P. Subbarayudu said a majority of the workers are illiterate and do not have a smart phone.
Instead of conceding the demands of workers, including a pay hike, the State government has caused them trouble by introducing unnecessary mobile apps, contended the leader of the All India Trade Union Congress-led APMWU.
They raised slogans for a monthly pay of ₹18,500 for drivers of the garbage collection vehicles introduced under the Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP).
They also demanded jobs for the next of kin of deceased sanitary workers and a fully-equipped hospital under the Employees State Insurance scheme.
While residents are worried over deaths due to diarrhoea in Vijayawada, officials still grapple to find the root cause. Contaminated drinking water supplied by VMC officials is the reason, insist people in the affected areas, but officials insist that efforts are on to identify the disease and that those with symptoms other than diarrhoea too are visiting the health camps.