Priest rides to the rescue of rag pickers

(March 11, 2010) A Divine Word priest has come to the rescue of rag pickers who have been threatened by a government move to employ contract labourers to clear waste material in towns. “Rag pickers eke out a living collecting and selling waste materials. They come from the very bottom of society,” Father George Payatikat, who works among scavengers in Madhya Pradesh, told UCA News Wednesday, after he organized more than 500 women engaged in waste disposal to protest the government move. The priest heads Jan Vikas Kendra he started in 2001 in Indore. The priest says the women’s “very existence” has been threatened after local civil bodies began to engage contract workers in clearing waste material. The women submitted to Indore municipal commissioner a memorandum addressed to state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan demanding “a dignified life and sustained livelihood.” For this, they demanded the permanent right to collect and sell waste material, and permission and facilities to collect waste from houses. They also demanded health and accident insurance as well as residential schools for their children. Father Payatikat quoted official records saying India has more than 1.5 million rag pickers. On the Church’s part, his centre has helped more than 1,000 women in Indore form self-help groups, a co-operative society with intra-loan facilities and a health insurance cover.