Spare a thought for human ‘scavenger’ as per Act 2013

By Abhijit Roy

At a time when Swachh Bharat campaign is in full swing, the death of sewer workers continues to rise. Surprisingly even after the abolition of manual scavenging, as envisaged in the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (2013), hazardous cleaning of septic tanks continues to claim the lives of sewage workers across the country. The death toll of workers due to choking while cleaning sewers and septic tanks, being reported for decades, goes against government claims and clamour of skilling, re – skilling and upskilling of the workforce and increased use of technology in hazardous job replacing humans.

According to the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, one sanitation worker dies every fifth day on an average while cleaning these tanks. Though the Supreme Court had rapped the Centre for failing to provide protective gear such as masks and oxygen cylinders to workers involved in the unclogging of sewers, the prevalence of caste bias even over 70 years after Independence, the working conditions of these safai karamcharis continue to be pathetic — a bitter truth for a nation that is celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Achieving the twin goals of fully mechanised cleaning of sewer tanks and the rehabilitation of manual scavengers remains a distant dream. About three years ago, IIT-Madras had developed India’s first septic tank-cleaning robot. The remote-controlled Sepoy Septic Tank Robot was supposed to have rid the society of manual scavenging by preventing human exposure to hazardous gases and microbes. However, government apathy and commercial unviability rendered this machine a non-starter. A nationwide audit is needed to pinpoint the lapses in the implementation of the 2013 Act and prepare an actionable road map for complete mechanisation of sewer-cleaning operations. This safe course is being practised in the West and in several Asian nations, and India needs to follow suit to ensure a life of dignity, not an undignified death, for its faceless, anonymous sanitation workers.

(Author is a columnist. The views expressed are personal opinion of the author. He can be reached at abhijit@tatanagar.com)