Jaipur: Demand for Civic Amenities in Workers’ Colonies
Labour organization AICCTU and women's organization AIPWA organized a march on 16 February 2022 from labour Chowk to the Collector’s office in Dausa, culminating in a protest meeting. Speaking on the occasion, AIPWA Jaipur District Secretary Comrade Manjulata said that bastis (settlements) like Ramnagar and Satkar Colony have been in existence for more than two decades but there is lack of basic facilities like drinking water, roads, sewage, education and health. Some of these areas come under the Panchayat and some under the City Council, so there is a continuing boundary dispute between the Panchayat and the City Council. The residents of these settlements come from poor, dalit, tribal and backward social backgrounds and mainly work in the wage and unorganized sectors. Even though they are residents of long standing, the ration cards of many families are not linked to food security and their names are not on the voter list, due to which they have no say in local politics.
Vimla, an AIPWA activist in Dausa, said that Ramnagar and Satkar Colony are full of filth due to lack of drainage system causing an acute danger of infectious diseases. Murari, a Rajasthan Nirman Mazdoor Sangathan (affiliated AICCTU) activist, said that due to lack of street lights, women workers returning home feel unsafe and complaints about incidents of harassment and theft are common. 200-300 families reside in these colonies but there is a lack of public drinking water taps. Despite being financially incapable, they are constrained to get paid tankers for drinking water. This tanker water is reported to have high levels of fluoride.
Basti residents Om Prakash and Bhagwan Sahay said that government schools are not available at the local level. There is a government school quite far off near the Collector’s office but the quality of education is poor due to lack of teachers and lack of facilities. Parents are compelled to send their children to private schools at high cost, which is an attack on their fundamental right to free quality education. Chetram said that there is also no public health centre, due to which the residents of the colony are dependent on private hospitals for treatment, which causes additional financial burden for them.
AICCTU State Secretary Comrade Saurabh Naruka said that the workers who build Dausa live in these bastis which do not even have basic facilities, and the governments have no concern for them. There is a prima facie lack of basic infrastructure facilities in these colonies where 200-300 families have been long-term residents. A memorandum has been submitted to the District administration for action on this matter. We hope that the administration will take cognizance of this and take immediate action to provide relief to the residents so that their living condition improves. Present on this occasion were AICCTU activists Kamlesh Kumar and Vikash Bairwa from Jaipur who had come especially in support of the workers of Dausa.
