Photojournalist Sudharak Olwe has documented the unsafe and undignified
lives that conservancy workers lead. — PHOTO: SUDHARAK OLWE
Project documents the lives of 38,000 conservancy workers
A powerful photography project on the lives of 38,000
conservancy workers who clean maximum city’s literal underbelly — its
sewers, manholes, 7,000 tonnes of its solid waste — and work in
hazardous conditions has spurred industrialist Ratan Tata to fund a
massive project in collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC) to improve their lives.
Titled “In
Search of Dignity and Justice – The Untold Story of Conservancy
Workers,” this photo project by award-winning photojournalist Sudharak
Olwe documenting how manual conservancy workers lead unsafe and
undignified lives and its social impact had earned the project the
National Foundation of India fellowship in 1999.
The
photographs came out in book form last year, and the publishers, Lok
Vanmaya Gruha approached the Tata Trusts for funding the book. When Mr.
Tata flipped through the copy of the book, he was shocked to see the
images and penned a strong note to his staff to search for solutions to
resolve this problem, triggering off a massive and multi-layered
initiative now titled “Mission Garima” (Mission Dignity)
“This
collection of photos by Sudharak Olwe has been an eye-opener. It has
captured and brought to our consciousness, the plight of a group of
people we seem to have relegated to a collective blind-spot,” Mr. Tata
wrote in the foreword.
“Conservancy workers live and
work in our own city. They are as much citizens as we are. Yet, we do
not seem to be aware of their very existence and least of all, the
plight of their condition. We should strive to eliminate manual
conservancy work in Mumbai and work dedicatedly towards rehabilitation,
retraining and reemploying the workers, with dignity...I am grateful to
each and every one of the 38,000 conservancy workers of Mumbai for their
ceaseless service,” he wrote. With his initiative, the Tatas formed a
team led by Rukmini Datta, the Senior Programme Officer, Tata Trusts, to
co-ordinate with the BMC officials.
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