[Reader-list] ragpickers march

[Bharati]

Friends,


    
    
  New Delhi's ragpickers and small kabaris are constantly harrassed by the police in a number of ways. Three of them were also badly beaten up recently, and an internal enquiry in on in this matter. Using the incident as an entry point into the issue of good governance and of safe recycling, ragpickers and small kabaris built up a charter of demands and marched to meet the (Deputy COmmissioner of Police) DCP, asking for greater acountability from the police of several police stations. THe SHO, Connaught Place, V.S. Pundhir, who has constantly advocated that ragpickers need to be reformed and disciplined through beatings was also there, and he was livid at the march. He has in the past suggested that the few ragpickers who are drug addicts must be cured by puttingthem into jail, where hard work and the "atmosphere" will cure them. Here are the details of the march. 
    

    
  CITY'S RAGPICKERS DEMAND GOOD GOVERNANCE FROM DELHI POLICE. 


  On April 13th, ie, yesterday,over 150 ragpickers went on a peace-walk with a charter of demands for safer recycling and working conditions to the DCP, New Delhi, Mr. Mukesh Meena.  


  They demanded that both beatings as well as petty abuse must be eliminated, in order for them to work better and be able to recycle the waste of the city in a less hazardous way. The demands included the following : 


  1.No beating under any circumstances. 

  2.Ragpickers of this network (identified by an I-Card) will stop to discuss problems, if requested. 

  3.No burning of bags of waste. 

  4.No turning bags of waste upside down on roads. 

  5.No removing of air from cycle-tubes. 

  6.No free and forced cleaning of police stations. Such work will only be done against payment. 

  7.Anyone taken away by the police can only be taken to the police station.  

  8.Checking of kabaris shops (of kabaris in the network) to be done only along with persons of the community nearby. 

  9.Fixed timings for checking kabaris shops. 

  10.No demand for bribes. 

  11.Respect the Identity Card worn by them. 


  On their part. part, they have decided to :  


  1.Co-operate with the police as a community and through various group leaders. 

  2.Print and use forms for purchase of items like fans, coolers etc. formally sold to them, to the extent possible, to prove their origins and avoid being harassed as thieves. This will be on a trial basis.  

  3.Help the police to evolve a code to distinguish between stolen and other goods.  

  4.Themselves control activities of their group.  

  5.Complaints may be put forth to the entire group during our meetings on Sundays, after prior discussion.  


  Additionally, they also demanded: 


  1.A monthly meeting with the SHO in our area of work and residence.(list can be furnished). 

  2.A monthly meeting with the DCP, New Delhi. 

  3.A system to redress grievances in each police station.  


  The DCP has shown interest in these requests and is expected to set up a monthly meeting for community dealings with the ragpickers. Individual problems are expected to be solved through a dialogue , again initiated by the DCP's office, first through the local Police Station and later, if unresolved, through higher officials through a process of dialogue. The first two cases in this context are already underway.Systems to address grievances are expected to be put into place shortly. The ragpickers are hopeful that the actual beat officials and others who deal with them daily will also be adequately informed about the decisions of the officials, in order for them to be able to implement them.  Their behaviour will be monitored by the ragpickers in the coming months.  


  The background lies in an incident on the 25 th of March this year. Three ragpickers working and living in and around Connaught Place were picked up close to midnight by the Connaught Place Police Station Staff and taken to an isolated beat box near Super Bazaar. Here, they were badly beaten upby 7 or 8 persons, many not in uniform. The charge was one of a battery missing from the beat box. Subsequently, with the facilitation of Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, which works with a wide network of ragpickers and kabaris inNew Delhi, a formal complaint was made to the DCP. Subsequently, an enquiry within the vigilance branch of the Delhi Police was initiated. Since then, these ragpickers have been harassed and cajoled at various times by police personnel, including those who were involved in beating them and who continue to roam around freely in the area. 


  This was only one incident of many that routinely occur in the live of a ragpicker. While all the recycling of the city is done by ragpickers and small kabaris, the city authorities scarcely offer us any protection. If anything, protection has to be bought through bribes. 


  Now, as part of a wider network actively working towards organizing itself and creating less dangerous working conditions, ragpickers and kabaris of this network and Chintan, have made a charter of safety and good governance to the Police. 


  For other details, contact : 

  Bharati Chaturvedi 

  Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group 

  Tel : 3381627 and 4314478. 


-- 
This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. 

Please revert to adila at actionaidindia.org for any clarifications or comments 
  

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20020415/9dba62aa/attachment.html