Danger In The Sewer, Pg10

Key Highlights:

• Four sanitation workers recently died in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, while cleaning a hotel’s food-waste chamber.
• Between 2014 and 2025, 859 workers died in jobs involving sewer and septic tank cleaning across India.
• The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 prohibits hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.
• The Supreme Court, in Dr. Balram Singh (2023), increased compensation for worker deaths to ₹30 lakh and mandated that outsourced sewer-cleaning contracts should not involve workers entering sewers.
• In 2025, an order was issued to end manual sewer cleaning in four metropolitan cities, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.

Detailed Insights:

• Despite existing legislation, Supreme Court directives, and government programs, sanitation worker deaths due to preventable circumstances continue.
• The Safai Karamchari Andolan has consistently alleged severe under-reporting of fatalities among sanitation workers.
• The government has claimed since 2021 that manual cleaning of excreta from insanitary latrines has been eliminated, which may reduce urgency in inspections.
• Members of historically marginalised castes are disproportionately represented in hazardous sanitation jobs.
• Workers entering sewers and septic tanks remain vulnerable to noxious gases, even with legal distinctions from manual scavenging.
• Private contractors and municipal bodies often violate the 2013 Act by hiring undocumented daily-wage workers to evade liability.
• Formalising employment and improving social security for these workers are crucial steps to eliminate such deaths.
• The National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) scheme has shown a significant gap between its aims and actual outcomes.
• The state's approach often focuses on providing administrative assistance rather than fundamentally minimising hazardous work situations.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Manual Scavenging: The practice of manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or handling human excreta from insanitary latrines or open drains.
• Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013: A law prohibiting manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks, while also providing for rehabilitation of those engaged in such work.
• Safai Karamchari Andolan: A prominent movement and organization dedicated to eradicating manual scavenging and advocating for the rights and dignity of sanitation workers in India.
• National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE): A central sector scheme aimed at achieving zero fatalities in sanitation work and ensuring all sanitation work is performed by skilled workers.