Manual scavenging: SC order a relief but may not end practice

CHENNAI: Claims, campaigns and court orders have done little to stop the inhuman practice of manual scavenging that continues unabated despite being banned since 1993.

While the Supreme Court order on Thursday directing governments to identify and compensate victims of sewer line accidents since 1993 is expected to benefit the families of two workers, Murugan and Bhaskaran, who died in a septic tank at Ambattur in Chennai earlier this month, it is unlikely to change the situation.

The order is admitted to be a landmark judgment but does not seem to have done much to quell the anger of activists who say laws have been enacted in the past too but enforcement has been very poor. In Chennai, agencies such as the city corporation, Metrowater and Railways say that they do not employ manual scavengers.

The reality is different, say activists. "Open defecation spots and public latrines come directly under the corporation's control, while cleaning of manholes and drainage networks comes under Metrowater. Their contractors or engineers call private workers whenever there is a block and just pay them on a contract basis," says Deepti Sukumar of Safai Karmachari Andolan whose petition led to Thursday's SC order. "Every month at least 2 to 3 deaths are reported while several go unreported. Obviously no safety measures are taken," she adds.

Officials say workers don't wear gloves or shoes even if provided. The Prohibition of Employing As Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, makes it mandatory for rubber suits, oxygen masks and cylinders to be provided.

"The Act remains a non-starter; death, labour and human rights violations and rampant exploitation continues," says A Narayanan, an activist who moved the Madras high court and the Supreme Court leading to a ban on the practice in Tamil Nadu in 2008. "Metrowater spent crores buying machinery to clean sewage after the 2008 verdict," he says. "But just using machines won't help, solid waste management has to improve."

Many regular workers say they have stopped getting into manholes since the verdict. "We have been given machines to remove the waste so we work from outside now but private workers still get into drains," says Arumugam*, 30, a drainage cleaner with Metrowater.

"No one doing the job wants to do it. Septic tank cleaners and sewage workers get heavily drunk before they get in avoid the stench," says Samuel Velanganni, Tamil Nadu convener, Safai Karmachari Andolan.

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Manual scavenging: SC order a relief but may not end practice