Manual scavenging: Appalling practice continues in India despite government promises to end it

Published : Feb 23, 2023 10:40 IST On February 1, 2020, Ravi, 25, descended into a 15-20 feet deep sewer at CBD ground at Karkardooma in Delhi. “No place in the world sends people to gas chambers to die,” the Supreme Court had said on sewer deaths in 2019, asking the Centre why protective gear was not provided to sanitation workers. The state and its agencies or the contractors engaged by them are under a constitutional obligation to ensure the safety of the persons who are asked to undertake hazardous jobs.” Arguing that the state has never been serious about abolishing manual scavenging, Prof. Sukumar told Frontline: “There is a close relationship between the caste system and manual scavenging, where the social hierarchies of the varna dharma are to be kept intact as per the cultural practises endorsed by civil society and the state. “The cleaning work of septic tanks in unauthorised colonies, industrial areas, housing societies is outsourced to private contractors who are scarcely held accountable by the authorities,” said Ashok Kumar Taank, Joint Secretary of Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch, which has been working for the rights, safety, and dignity of sanitation workers. Or the government must ensure that private contractors adhere to all rules and regulations,” Kumar said, adding, “Even FIRs are not registered in many cases of deaths of casual sewer workers.” Full mechanisation Even though the State governments of Delhi and Maharashtra have deployed sewer suction pumps to unclog drains, sewer-related deaths have not stopped.