Just Another Stat: 2 More Die in Sewage Plant But 'Manual Scavengers' Are Expendable

NEW DELHI: Two workers lost their lives while they were working at a sewage treatment plant in Noida on April 14. The workers allegedly entered the plant without adequate safety precautions. National Human Rights Commision took suo motu cognisance of the reports and issued a notice to the Noida authorities. An enquiry was initiated,however sources say that an FIR hasn’t been filed in the matter yet. This is yet another statistic for the government but not for their their families.

Bezwada Wilson who has worked for the eradication of manual scavenging for more than 32 years called it “a classic example of ignorance in a sewage plant which is government controlled. Stark reality is that the plants aren’t mechanised enough.”

Safai Karamchari Andolan, an organisation that has been working to gather data in the absence of reliable government reports on deaths claims that there have been 1327 deaths in sewage and septic tanks. According to Sana Sultan, data manager in SKA, less than 25 full compensations have been provided by the government to the kin of the deceased based on a sample survey conducted by the SKA.

Manual scavenging is a criminal,non bailable offence under the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act of 2013 and it violates the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 17, 21 and 23 of the Constitution of India and the 1993 Act. Supreme Court directed the state governments to provide a compensation of 10 lakhs to families of people who died since 1993.

According to Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction, in 2003, a report was submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which evaluated the ‘National Scheme for Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers and their Dependents’. The conclusion of the report was that this Scheme “has failed to achieve its objectives even after 10 years of implementation involving investment of more than Rs. 600 crores”. It further pointed out that although funds were available for implementation of the Scheme, much of it were unspent or underutilized. The jurisdiction also raised questions on whether those shown as being rehabilitated were in fact actually rehabilitated.

The jurisdiction also talks about the role of central and state authorities in the eradication of manual scavenging and about “providing manual scavengers what is their legitimate due under law” however state governments conveniently deny the existence of manual scavengers let alone their deaths.

While human rights organisations and the Supreme court seek to eradicate the inhuman practice of manual scavenging a Social welfare minister from Karnataka said that he wanted to legalise manual scavenging in ‘emergency situations’ as reported by the Indian express. This statement on the part of a person involved with the nodal agency for prohibiting manual scavenging speaks in volumes about the state and future of manual scavengers in India.

With reports of deaths in sewage tanks and septic tanks being published almost every month and with most of the numbers being lost in translation in government documents the questions posed aren’t just about government’s inactivity but also about society’s apathy and ignorance.