Representative image

CHENNAI: The next time you visit Coimbatore, don't be surprised if the sanitary worker you run into is an engineer or an MBA graduate. The textile city's corporation has offered cleaning jobs to children of deceased sanitary workers after rejecting applications (under compassionate grounds) to the posts their educational qualification entitle them. The corporation in the last three years has asked 50 schedule caste candidates to inherit such jobs of their parents, government documents reviewed by TOI show.

The civic body has referred to an obsolete government order, subsequently revised, for not entertaining the applications. The order, which held typewriting as a qualification for posts of junior assistant and billtax collector, was revised in 2000 and set a Class X pass as the minimum academic qualification.

The rules were applicable for both direct recruitment and appointments under compassionate grounds. But, more than 50 dalit candidates, children of deceased sanitary workers in the corporation, were denied white collar jobs for not clearing government typewriting exams and offered sanitary work.

A junior assistant bill collector earns 60%-70% more than the Rs 10,000- Rs 11,000 a sanitary worker takes home every month. “More than the money , my self-respect has taken a beating. I am not able to handle ill treatment at the hands of other staff,“ said J Bhuvaneshwari , a science graduate who completed her B.Ed degree and wanted to become a teacher.

Read this story in Tamil

K Suresh Kumar , of Singanallur in East Coimbatore who holds an MBA, knocked on the corporation's doors in September 2015 for a job after the death of his father, a worker in the underground drainage department. The first generation graduate, who secured a Rs 3 lakh bank loan to complete his postgraduation, said all his father's efforts to help him get an administrative government job had come to naught.“I feel distressed every time I step out to clean the streets,“ said Suresh, who lives with his mother in a rented home.

K Kuppusamy , a 29-yearold Gandhipuram resident licensed to operate heavy duty vehicles besides holding necessary educational qualification, was denied the post of a driver and forced into sanitary work.

The corporation has not amended its recruitment norms on a par with a GO passed in 2000, which would have allowed such applicants to join as junior assistants tax collectors and rise to rank of zonal assistant commissioner. Under the obsolete norms being followed, they can only become record clerks at retirement.

“The corporation doesn't want people belonging to scheduled castes to growdevelop on a par with others,“ said R Tamil Nadu Selvam, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Ambedkar Sanitary Workers Association, which claims to have taken up the case with corporation officials repeatedly . “They want them to continue an occupation thrust upon them for centuries.“ Despite repeated attempts, corporation authorities were unavailable for comment.

Read this story in Bengali

