“All four were rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital, where one of them, identified as Arvind (40), a resident of Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh, was declared brought dead,” a senior officer said.
The new machines allocated to replace the manual scavenging are proving to be inefficient. Despite the government and the Supreme Court having taken steps to curb it, the employment, engagement and exploitation of sanitation workers for manual scavenging, endangering their lives in the process, continues to be a rampant practice across the country.
In accordance with two surveys conducted between 2013 and 2018, Odisha accounts for 230 manual scavengers out of 58,098 in the country
"No deaths are reported due to 'manual scavenging' (lifting of night soil from the insanitary latrines) as defined under Section 2 (1) (g) of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, but 941 deaths have occurred since 1993 while undertaking 'hazardous cleaning' sewers and septic tanks.
Manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks has come under sharp criticism since the job is degrading and hazardous for the labourers. Although, manual scavenging has been banned by India in 1993, it still continues to be practiced even in the capital of the country.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra criticised the governments and said that more than 70 years have passed since Independence, caste discrimination still persists in the country.
According to data available with the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) 50 workers have died cleaning sewers in the first six months of 2019.
The whole story came to light after the Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission recently conducted a survey across the state on the directive of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department SC/STWD).
The machine, which costs Rs 43 lakh, was unveiled on the occasion of World Toilet Day 2018 by the mayors of all the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD).
The Skill Development Programme, launched in August for manual scavengers in Shahdara, aims to provide alternative means of livelihood and help them live with honour and dignity, according to an official statement.
