As reported by Ajay Khape in expressindia.com on 20 April 2008:
I never asked how many PMC workers died: RTI activist - ExpressIndia.Com I never asked how many PMC workers died: RTI activist Pune, April 19 “Why would the Pune Municipal Corporation give me details of deaths of its entire employees when I never sought any such information?,” asks Vihar Shivajirao Durve, who filed an application under
RTI on November 12, 2007 seeking information on deaths of conservancy staff of Pune Municipal Corporation from April 1, 2002 onwards. However, PMC provided him with statistics on conservancy employee deaths only for the period October 2005-October 2007.
“The subject matter of my
RTI is only about safai karamchari (conservancy staff) of PMC. If the number of employees refers to the PMC conservancy staff, if their answer “Not applicable” against the question on contract labourers is about conservancy staff and the details of safety gear also pertains to conservancy staff, how can the number of deaths alone be about the entire PMC workforce which is about 18,000,” Durve said.
In a report published by The Times of India today, the PMC claimed that only 108 conservancy staff died in the two-year period starting October 2005 as per the findings of an eight-member committee probe ordered by Municipal Commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi.
Quoting Suresh Jagtap, deputy commissioner (solid waste management), the report said: “There is no ambiguity in the
RTI reply and our probe report. The number of deaths of conservancy workers is 108. The total number of deaths including employees from other departments was 225.”
When contacted, Jagtap admitted on Saturday that all the questions asked in the
RTI application were specifically related to conservancy staff only, so the reply to these question too were only related to conservancy staff.
“The information asked in the
RTI is only about the conservancy staff. The
RTI is a legal document and we stand by the reply given. There is confusion over the figures (225 and 108 - mentioned as the number of PMC conservancy staff who died during the two-year period). We will look into how different figures have cropped up as both the information have come from different departments,” Jagtap said.
This is not the first time that the PMC has come up with the claim that only 108 conservancy staff died from October 2005 to September 2007 and to that extent this finding by the PMC committee is nothing new. On October 13, 2007, The Indian Express had carried PMC’s response to the previous day’s story: “Only 189 employees had died during the last two years — from October 2005 to September 2007—- and not 227 employees in the last 30 months as reported. Of the 189, one was a Class I employee, two were of Class II, 26 of Class III, and 159 of Class IV. The number of deaths among conservancy staff — engaged in garbage and sewage work — was only 108.”
Charging the PMC with willfully misleading the public, Durve said, “I am the
RTI applicant and in none of the answers provided till date, including the hearing on March 7, 2008 at the office of the civic body’s appellate authority, did the PMC say that the number of deaths does not pertain to its conservancy staff.”
Excerpts from Nov 12, 2007 application and PMC’s reply on Dec 11, 2007
Particulars of information required - Subject matter of Information:
Safai Karmachari i.e. PMC employees or contract labour, engaged in sweeping of streets, cleaning of open drains, sewerage lines and manholes, storm water drains, operations at garbage dumping sites, motor loading and unloading of garbage, handling of hospital waste and working in mortuaries in PMC - safety gears, medical facilities, operational manuals and staff quarters and death in service.
* Total number of employees, year-wise?
Reply: Information annexure attached along with (detailed table showed it had above 7,000 on its rolls in most months).
* Total number of contract labour?
Reply: Not applicable
* Total number of employees who died while in service?
Reply: Oct 05 - Mar 06 = 44
Apr 06 - Mar 07= 144
Apr 07 -Oct 07 = 37
* Details of safety gears like hand gloves, masks, caps, safety shoes, uniforms, goggles for eyes, fluorescent, jackets etc, provided by PMC to its employees, if any?
Reply: Uniforms - 3 in number every 3 years; Raincoat - once in two years; Gumboot - one pair every year; Mask - one every year; Safety goggles - one every year.
RTI activists speak
* Vivek Velankar: If the question is about conservancy staff then they cannot escape saying that the answer is about the entire PMC employees. I have experience of getting misleading information from PMC. The municipal commissioner should take action against those doing this.
* Vijay Kumbhar: Once again, the PMC is trying to confuse the public.This is not the first time that the PMC has given misleading information. They feel they can get away with anything unpunished
