JOIN USOn the eve of 70th anniversary of Independence, when the whole country was rejoicing, the families of four Dalits were grieving the death of their dear ones having been trapped in manholes in the IT hub of Madhapur, near Hyderabad. Such tragic deaths due to asphyxiation during manual scavenging continues to be so common across the country, that it did not even make ‘news’ in most media outlets. The Madhapur incident witnessed the usual blame game with the municipal authorities trying to pass the buck on to the agency given contract for cleaning the sewages and the police going after a sub-contractor who is said to be absconding.
There should have been no scope for such ambiguity after the passing of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.
It stipulates a total ban on anyone employing any person “directly or indirectly, for hazardous cleaning of a sewer or a septic tank.” The first contravention of the Act invites a jail term of two years and the subsequent one five years, with fines ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. But the ‘murder in manholes’ continues unabated – two deaths in Hyderabad itself in May, four in Doddaballapur in April and two in Bengaluru last August, to name a few – and there has been no attempt to fix the responsibility on municipal officials. The inhuman practice of manual scavenging may come down only when the state governments, the police and the courts take the law seriously and start holding the officials accountable for these deaths, sending at least a few behind the bars.
There are about a million Dalits from the lowest strata of society who are still employed in the hazardous job of de-clogging or cleaning the sewers, mostly without even the basic safety equipment. Wearing protective masks should be a must while entering manholes harbouring a deadly cocktail of methane, hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide gases which can cause death without any warning, but that is rarely provided. The workers are probably not even aware of the grave risks they are subjected to. The sanitation employees are also exposed to viral and bacterial infections that affect skin, eyes, limbs, respiratory and gastro-intestinal systems and a disease like tuberculosis is rife among the community. The extremely unhygienic conditions they are forced to work in also makes many of them turn into alcoholics, and unsurprisingly, their average life span is as low as 45 years.
The rehabilitation aspect of the Act talks about retraining them for alternative occupations, residential plots and financial assistance for house construction and scholarships for their children. But the focus, at the moment, should firmly be on preventing the completely avoidable deaths.