Thirty-year-old Raghu Kamble has been working as a garbage picker for high rises in Chembur, Tilak Nagar and surrounding areas for three years now. For him, every morning is the same. He routinely visits the residential buildings at 9 AM — accompanied by nothing but a flimsy surgical mask for protection from the deadly virus looming over Mumbai city. According to statistics released by Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, over 6,500 contract workers in sanitation have been working throughout the pandemic without safety gear like Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or hazard pay. By mid-May, Maharashtra had seen no less than 30,000 new…
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