Lack of sanitation staff puts hygiene, health at risk in govt junior colleges in Telangana

Junior lecturers pool money for colleges' upkeep - There are no posts of sweepers, scavengers and night watchmen for 425 government junior colleges

Hyderabad: A silent crisis has unfolded in the government-run junior colleges in the State. Grappling with no regular sanitation staff, these colleges are left without basic cleaning services necessary to maintain a hygienic environment for students and teachers alike.

The situation has forced the junior lecturers to dig into their personal finances to ensure cleanliness of the classrooms and restrooms. Each month, the lecturers have been pooling between Rs.5,000 to Rs. 6,000 money to hire local workers to clean classrooms and staff rooms besides washrooms. They also contribute money for cleaning supplies.

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The amount required for upkeep of the college sanitation is determined by the strength. The lecturers are forced to shell out more money in the colleges that have more strength sans reimbursement from the government.

The issue stemmed from non-sanction of sweepers, scavengers and night watchmen for 425 government junior colleges (GJCs) across the State. While the State government had earlier directed the urban local bodies to ensure proper sanitation in the government colleges, the sanitation workers have not been able to fulfil the task assigned to them.

“Claiming they are already overburdened with their regular work, the sanitation workers of the urban local bodies are not cleaning the colleges. As cleaning is happening twice or thrice in a month, we are forced to hire hands to upkeep college premises,” said a junior lecturer.

According to Telangana Government Junior Lecturers Association (TGJLA), the issue was already brought to the notice of the government.

“We recently met Telangana Education Commission chairman Akunuri Murali and informed about the problems being faced by the colleges due to the lack of sanctioned posts of sweepers, scavengers and night watchmen. We urge the government to immediately ensure all government colleges have these three positions at least on an outsourcing basis,” said Dr. Koppiseti Suresh, general secretary TGJLA-475.

Meanwhile, the Commissionerate of Intermediate Education recently wrote to the government highlighting the dire necessity to engage 1,275 sweepers, scavengers and night watchmen in all GJCs for a period of 10 months through an identified outsourcing agency and sought nod for the same.

“A few institutions have these posts but we requested the government to sanction posts for all 425 colleges through an outsourcing agency,” said a senior official.