In two separate incidents, sanitary workers of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) were attacked, raising serious concerns over their safety, especially during night shifts.
To make the city cleaner for early-morning walkers and commuters, the PMC Commissioner had recently instructed that roads be cleaned at night. This followed a surprise early-morning inspection of the city, during which he and the District Collector observed garbage piles across several areas.
Special night-duty sanitation teams were accordingly deployed. However, in one incident, Hanumant Londhe, a municipal worker from Ward No. 22 under the jurisdiction of the Dhole Patil Road Regional Office, was brutally assaulted by a drunk auto-rickshaw driver near Pune Railway Station. The attackers, reportedly, engaged in a fight when Londhe was sweeping the area. The attackers abused and beat him. When Londhe and his colleagues approached the Bundgarden Police Station to lodge an FIR, officers allegedly dismissed them, stating such incidents were "common" and merely recorded the details on plain paper without registering an official complaint.
In a separate case, Balasaheb Mhaske, a contract sanitation worker with the Kondhwa Yewalewadi Regional Office, was attacked around 2am while cleaning the stretch from Khadi Machine Chowk to the ISKCON Temple in Ward No. 41. Two unidentified men assaulted him and stole his mobile phone, worth ₹18,000, along with ₹750 in cash. Mhaske reportedly faced reluctance and delay in having his complaint registered at the Kondhwa Police Station. It was only after intervention by the Municipal Workers' Union that the police finally filed a case.
These incidents have sparked fear among the sanitation department staff, who are now questioning their safety while performing essential civic duties at night. The refusal of police to promptly act on such cases has further deepened the crisis.
In the 2024-25 edition of Swachh Survekshan, PMC secured the eighth rank in the ‘Swachh Shahar’ category for cities with a population of more than 10 lakh. However, the city's hygiene is questionable despite deploying sanitary workers for the night shift, claim social activists. They are now demanding increased police patrolling in vulnerable areas and strict action against officers who fail to register complaints.
Sandeep Kadam, head of the solid waste management department, PMC, said, "We are putting on a lot of effort to keep the city clean. The deployment of sanitary workers at late night is to ensure cleanliness in the city. These workers are not being ignored or left unprotected. The patrolling in the areas will increase."
