A few days ago, the Chief Minister's announcement of compensation for the families of two sanitation workers, who died while entering and cleaning sewerage line in the CDA locality of Cuttack, hit the headlines. The Chief Minister’s office ordered transfer of the concerned engineers and registration of an FIR against the service provider.
The families of the deceased were to be paid a sum of Rs 10 lakh each. Besides, the Orissa High Court has expressed shock that the shameful practice of manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks still continues. Deaths of sanitation workers in the line of duty shock humanity. Imagine a human being entering septic tanks and sewer lines to clean them. To remind the reader these sewer lines and septic tanks contain human waste like excreta and urine mixed with soiled water.
The resulting toxic gases formed on decomposition of human waste is the main reason for sanitation workers entering these closed chambers losing their lives. Drowning in human waste is another way they can lose their life.
It is encouraging to note the swift action taken by the Chief Minister ’s office in this case . However, such deaths are unfortunately not uncommon. Just last month two sanitation workers died in Bhubaneswar. Their families' plight was overlooked. The National Human Rights Commission had to seek an Action Taken Report from the Odisha Government on April 12.
The NHRC inquired about whether the minimum legally mandated compensation of Rs 10 lakh had been paid to the families. They were also concerned about whether the people responsible had been booked. The condition across India is equally gloomy. In a recent article, Radhika Bordia and Yogesh Pawar noted that there were at least 400 such deaths all over India since 2013. In 2013, the Parliament passed the new law known as “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act.”
The Act improved on the previous Act of 1993, by expanding the definition of manual scavenging to include all those involved in manually cleaning, handling or disposing undecomposed human excreta. The law also codified previous court judgements of paying a compensation of Rs 10 lakh per death. The responsibility of compensation is vested with the State Government regardless of the employment status of the victim.
The laws also require criminal charges to be applied on those responsible. As sewer lines and septic tanks contain decomposed excreta, manually handling them is not considered manual scavenging under existing laws.
Hence, people entering and cleaning septic tanks and sewers at risk of their health, life and dignity is perfectly legal. In fact such workers are legally called “safai karmacharis" and not manual scavengers. The Asian Human Rights Commission considers manual cleaning of sewer lines and septic tanks as manual scavenging too.
While we may argue on the name, there should be no argument on the fact that such an occupation goes against human dignity. Multiple Indian court judgements have upheld the right to life with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution for these hapless workers.
The existing laws only suggest that protective gear be given to people entering and cleaning sewers. In practice, a survey in 2015 by Dr Shailesh Darokar of Tata Institute of Social Sciences noted that septic tanks and sewers continue to be designed only for manual cleaning . He also noted protective equipment was poorly used in the absence of clear specifications in existing laws . In March, Union Minister Ram Das Athavale informed the Parliament that there was no proposal to make mechanised cleaning of sewer lines mandatory. Most houses in India lack access to Government sanitary services and depend on their own septic tanks.
Change is thus quite literally in our hands. It is the civic duty of all Indians to help phase out the inhuman occupation.
By simply remodelling one's septic tank to allow mechanised cleaning, lives can be saved. Where legislation and executive action may be wanting , it is the common man who can usher in change. For it is when the people of India find such “sanitation work” intolerable and feel the need to improve the existing system , will real change occur.
In September 2020, the Chief Minister of Odisha launched the “Garima” scheme to rehabilitate manual scavengers. He dedicated a corpus fund of Rs 50 crore for the purpose.
Good intentions need to translate to good actions. It is equally important that all State Governments and civic bodies work together with sanitary service providers and workers to phase out the occupation.
(Dr Sahu is an orthopaedic surgeon)