Indian sanitation workers get new chance in life with $1.2m lottery win

Eleven sanitation workers who hit the jackpot of $1.2 million pose for a photo in Parappanangadi, Kerala, in July 2023. (M.P. Radha)

• 11 women in Kerala pooled money for a $3 lottery ticket in June
• Each earns less than $100 a month from collecting household waste

NEW DELHI: In June, M. Sheeja spent all her money to pool with another 10 friends at work to buy a $3 lottery ticket that none of them could afford individually. Last week, they found out they had hit the jackpot.
The lottery was 100 million rupees ($1.2 million), an enormous sum for the women in the southern Indian state of Kerala who have been collecting household waste for a living.
When they entered the lucky draw, Sheeja had no money left to pay for her transportation to return from work in the coastal municipality of Parappanangadi.
“That day I took a good decision to walk back home,” the 48-year-old mother of three told Arab News.
After taxes, the women will receive around $700,000.
They had agreed that each of them would get an equal share if they won.
It was the fourth time they bought a ticket together in the popular state-run bumper prize lottery that runs every year ahead of the Onam harvest festival.
“It was the biggest surprise of my life,” Sheeja said. “For us it is a huge amount that can relieve us from the burdens of daily struggle.”
Like other workers in her group, she earns less than $100 a month — an amount that is insufficient to make ends meet, leaving most of them trapped in debt.
“I will repay the debt, do some repair work at home and spend the money on educating my three children,” Sheeja said.
The other women have similar plans. One of them, M.P. Radha, 49, is relieved that she would be able to pay for her brother’s medical treatment. She has been trying her luck for several years.
“I have never won more than 1,000 rupees. The draw this time was quite surprising, and it was more than what we could have ever imagined,” she said. “This money hopefully will ease my life.”
Despite the win, she and her colleagues plan to continue their work. “There is no question of leaving the job as this job gave us stability in life,” said M. Laxmi, a 47-year-old mother of three, who now will be able to pay her husband’s hospital bills.
“I want to dig a well for my house, spend some money on marrying off my daughter, and also take my husband to a good hospital for treatment.”
She hopes that with the lottery win there will be no more stress over daily survival and that now luck will remain on her side.
“I hope to have an easy life now,” she said. “But I won’t stop buying lottery tickets.”