NHRC notice to TN on manual scavenging

 The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday issued a notice over report of labourers cleaning manholes without protective gear here and sought a report within eight weeks.

The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report, which also published a photograph showing a labourer cleaning a manhole without protective gear in Chennai on October 25 after the city received heavy rainfall.

A group of labourers was spotted going down the manholes to clean them despite legislation that prohibited the employment of manual scavengers.

Citing the media report, which pointed out that the abhorrent practice continued unchecked in many parts of the city, the commission in its notice said, considering it as a serious violation of human rights, a notice has been issued to the Tamil Nadu government asking about the steps taken to implement the provisions of the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, within a period of eight weeks.