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Disability hardly in the way of his daily work

— Photo: T. Singaravelou

On the job: V. Gunasekaran clearing garbage at S. S Nagar in Villianur.

PUDUCHERRY: V. Gunasekaran, a daily wage sanitary worker, did not lose hope when he got his left leg amputated below the knee after doctors assured him of help to overcome the disability. Ten years ago, while attending to a defect in the submersible pump at the Sedarapet water tank, he met with an accident and doctors had to remove the fully damaged knee.

After remaining in the hospital for around four months, he was wheeled out and as per doctor’s advice went in for an artificial limb. When he came out of the hospital, Mr Gunasekaran was brimming with hope following assurance from the Local Administration Department (LAD) of proper posting, taking into account his partial disability. A decade after the incident, the assurance remains to be fulfilled and he continued to serve as a sanitary worker, clearing garbage in Villianur locality.

“Nobody bothered to take up my case after I was discharged from the hospital. When I was in the hospital officials from the LAD visited me and assured to give me a suitable posting,” he told The Hindu. Now, like any other sanitary worker, his day starts at around 7 a.m. He goes around places collecting garbage and disposing of it at the dumping yard.

“I find it extremely difficult to walk with the artificial limb. I have to cover a long distance and my health has started deteriorating,” he added. He has become a familiar person in S. S Nagar, K. V Nagar and Muthuranipet and residents are sympathetic to him.

“It’s one of the best examples of how a government can be insensitive to a human cause,” a resident, working with a private leather manufacturing unit at Villianur said.

Mr. Gunasekaran said he had taken up his case on many occasions with the authorities in the Villianur Commune Panchayat and the Local Administration Department but to no avail.

Responding to his plea, the LAD took up the issue and urged the Villianur Commune Panchayat to draft a proposal for giving a suitable post. In a letter addressed by K. Suryanarayanamurthy, Deputy Director (Rural Development) in September 2002, he had asked the Commissioner of Villianur Panchayat to send a proposal for absorbing Mr. Gunasekaran “in any suitable post.”

As there has been no follow up action, Mr. Gunasekaran has to continue in the same job. He has to meet the hospital expenditure as he had not been provided any compensation, the sanitary worker says.

When asked for his comments, Director of Local Administration E. Vallavan said that so far he had not been aware of the issue. “We would take immediate steps to rehabilitate the sanitary worker and give him adequate compensation,” he added.

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