Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have been all praise for their role in boosting his pet project 'Swachch Bharat Mission' (SBM) at a grand event here on Tuesday but the Swachchagrahis (ambassadors of cleanliness) in various States are running from pillar to post —many of them for the last two years to get their wages for the task.
To draw attention of the Prime Minister to their demands, a section of swachhagrahis which had come to attend the concluding ceremony of Champaran Satyagraha centenary celebrations here created ruckus during Modi's speech. Many rued that they were not paid stipend for working under the Chalo Champaran Campaign, a part of the Swachh Bharat Mission of the Centre while others said that they are still waiting for payment for their work since they joined the scheme launched in 2016.
Swachhagrahis is a dedicated, trained and properly incentivized sanitation workforce at the village level comprising 'foot soldiers' or 'Swachhata Doots' engaged in sensitizing the villagers about the importance of cleanliness and hazards of poor hygiene.
They said that while they had been doing their job seriously, going door to door to sensitise people about the cleanliness, the officials have been just making fall promises regarding payment.
Hailing from States like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra besides Tamil Nadu, they said that they were unemployed hence had took up the job of swachchagrahis in the hope that they will get some livelihood to feed their families.
When asked, Union Water and Sanitation Ministry Secretary Parameswaran Iyer said that it is an incentive that the States have to pay. “If they are not being paid, we will soon issue a circular to all the States, asking them to make timely and adequate payment to the Swachchagrahis as they play an important role in our sanitation drive,” he said.
At the event, Modi had appreciated the role of the Swachchh Bharat Mission volunteers and said that as many as 350 districts across the country are now open defecation free (ODF).