Chennai: Tamil Nadu Excise and Prohibition Minister S. Muthusamy has stirred up a hornet’s nest with his statement that people into “heavy work” such as sanitation workers who drink early in the morning should not be spoken ill of.
The minister also claimed that the people who drink alcohol in the morning should not be called “drunkards”.
“There are people who consume alcohol and go for heavy work. Sanitary workers who drink to tolerate the sewage should not be called drunkards,” Muthusamy had told a press conference Monday.
Housing and Urban Development Minister Muthusamy, who was given the additional charge of prohibition and excise, had faced trouble earlier as well when he announced 4 July that Tamil Nadu was considering the sale of liquor in tetra packs for which it sought the opinion of political parties and 18 trade unions.
The next day, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) had warned of a state-wide protest if liquor was sold in tetra packs.
In this current episode, the opposition parties have criticised the remarks saying that the minister should not speak about “‘justice for alcoholics”. They also advised the Tamil Nadu government to better the lives of sanitation workers by mechanising the cleaning work they have to undertake daily.
BJP state president K. Annamalai tweeted that the “solution is not to sell alcohol in the morning, but to change the status quo of manual sewage disposal by sanitation workers and find alternatives”.
PMK chief Anbumani Ramadoss, too, emphasized on bettering the lives of sanitation workers.
“It is true that the smell inside the drains is unbearable. The solution is not to sell alcohol to them in the morning,” Ramadoss said in a statement, adding that the solution should be to mechanise sanitation work.
Even as the state government through an order in 2022 banned sanitation workers from manual scavenging, Annamalai questioned if “the minister (Muthusamy) is asking to engage in manual waste disposal after consuming liquor in the morning hours”.
Fifty-six sanitation workers have died in the last five years, he asserted.
The BJP state chief further demanded that the Tamil Nadu government implement the Centre’s various schemes for the development of sanitation workers.
“For the rehabilitation of sanitation workers, the Union government provides Rs 40,000 per household. For skill development training of sanitation workers’ families, the Centre provides Rs 3,000 per month for two years. The Union government grants up to Rs 5 lakh for self employment. The Centre also provides health insurance and Namasthe scheme,” he elaborated.
The Tamil Nadu government, which has not used these schemes so far, should implement them immediately, he argued.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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