Invisible and unheard: India’s women manual scavengers

 In India, even today, many women continue to be engaged in one of the most inhuman and undignified forms of manual scavenging, which involves cleaning of insanitary dry latrines with bare hands, carrying the basket or bucket containing the human faeces on their head, and disposing of it, on a daily basis, despite the practice being forbidden by law. Due to the deep-rooted societal and systemic challenges these women face, most of them are unaware about their entitlements and rights, let alone have the voice to demand them. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, as the world commits to “Choose to Challenge”, it is critical to acknowledge the historical neglect and apathy these women have faced, understand their harsh realities, and prioritise action to support them.

Despite the existence of legal frameworks which strictly prohibit the practice of manual scavenging and mandate respectful and lawful rehabilitation of these workers, and the Karnataka High Court having noted this practice as “most inhuman” and violative of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21, it still continues in pockets across the country. When one thinks of “manual scavenging”, the image that usually comes to mind is of men risking their lives while cleaning sewer lines, toilet tanks and drains. However, most of us don’t realise that women, too, work as manual scavengers, and while they may not face an imminent risk of death like men, the daily humiliation, health hazards, and lifelong neglect they are subjected to are no less excruciating.

There’s a lack of clear government estimates of the number of women engaged in manual scavenging, owing to which we have limited understanding on the extent of women’s engagement in this practice as well as their socio-economic vulnerabilities. However, estimates by several organisations suggest that more than 75 per cent of manual scavengers are women.

Such woman are usually from Dalit caste groups including those referred to as Bhangi, Valmiki, Mahar, Mehtar. A considerable number of women have started to leave this work in recent years, as a result of increasing awareness, as well as due to the success of large-scale sanitation drives under the Swachh Bharat Mission. However, in absence of a viable alternative income source, they struggle for the basic necessities. The double burden of discrimination they experience — as women and as members of the most marginalised social groups — adds to their woes. The pandemic has heightened their distress. In the absence of dedicated institutional arrangements to support these women, the question of who would take the lead in ensuring their empowerment and rehabilitation remains unanswered.

India has several legal mandates, government programmes and institutional structures to support manual scavengers. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation (PEMSR) Act, 2013 and the subsequent orders by the Supreme Court of India mandate justice, rights and freedom for manual scavengers. Institutions such as the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation, state-level counterparts of these bodies, and district level authorities have been set up for the implementation of these. Furthermore, though there are programmes like the Self-Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS), the budget utilisation is far less than the allocation, indicating implementation gaps. Many recent national-level policy initiatives have shown commitment to this cause, including a proposed inter-ministerial action plan for the elimination of manual scavenging. The Ministry of Urban and Housing Affairs’ programmes such as the Emergency Response Sanitation Unit (ERSU) and the Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge, and the Odisha government’s recent scheme “Garima” for the safety and dignity of core sanitation workers, are other recent examples.

However, in practice, most of the government schemes focus on improving the safety of sewer and septic tank cleaners. While the significance of these programmes cannot be denied, there is a lack of focus on women workers.

Moreover, systemic apathy towards such marginalised communities among the local administration has resulted in implementation gaps in the initiatives for identification and supporting women engaged in manual scavenging. For example, a 2018 baseline survey, undertaken under WaterAid India’s project aimed at strengthening the rule of law to advance rights and freedom of manual scavengers, identified close to a thousand such women who are currently or till recently were engaged in manual scavenging in just 36 urban locations across four states. However, the local administrations were not ready to accept that manual scavenging existed in their jurisdictions. As a result, most of these women struggled to even get enrolled under the government programmes. More recent field insights suggest that while the number of women currently working as manual scavengers have gone down due to Swachh Bharat Mission and similar initiatives, the majority of these women struggle to make ends meet and are yet to be recognised under the law, in order to access rehabilitation support and related entitlements, and take up alternative sources of livelihood.

In their hurried bid to declare cities and towns manual scavenging-free, many urban administrators seem to have reported the non-existence of the practice of manual scavenging, leaving many of these workers uncounted, which could have led to the inability or reluctance of the current administrators to formally enrol and support these women further. This might also explain the incomplete status of several enrolment surveys initiated so far, as well as the discrepancies in the available data. Among the few who do manage to get enrolled, a very small number of women are able to access their entitlements.

A series of stringent measures is required to ensure empathy and support to persons engaged in manual scavenging, with a conscious focus on women.

First, the guidelines for the SRMS need to be revised to include specific schemes, plans, targets, budgets and indicators for all categories of work that come under the definition of manual scavenging. This might be the only way of ensuring that women engaged in manual cleaning of insanitary dry latrines are prioritised and covered by such schemes.
Second, all the affidavits, declarations and submissions made in the past by various urban and district authorities, which claim that their area is free of manual scavenging, should be declared as null and void, and a fresh identification of specific categories which have been left out should be mandated, with specific instructions for including women currently/ previously engaged in manual cleaning of insanitary dry latrines. In addition, a special mandate must be given to the urban and district administration to organise camps that ensure the enrolment of all these women and their families under schemes for supporting manual scavengers, as well as under other programmes around health, education, nutrition, social welfare, employment/livelihoods among others. Incentives need to be provided to officials who accelerate the identification, enrolment and provision of benefits for persons, including women, engaged in manual scavenging. Punitive measures need to be introduced for cases wherein the officials fail to enrol them and provide the mandated benefits.

Third, coverage of women currently or previously engaged in manual scavenging should be ensured under the National Urban and Rural Livelihood Missions. Inclusion of these women can be specifically recommended under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission’s existing mandate which ensures that at least 10 per cent of the persons covered under the SHGs and other initiatives are the vulnerable urban poor.

Fourth, the enrolment of children of persons engaged in manual scavenging in schools, educational institutions and skilling programmes must be mandated, while also ensuring access to scholarship and other support measures. This would be essential to break the inter-generational cycle of inhuman work and oppression.

Finally, special financial incentives must be provided to households with insanitary dry latrines, wherever present, for conversion to sanitary latrines.

Acknowledging the existence and challenges of these manual scavengers, especially the women who continue to remain unseen and unrecognised, is a necessary first step towards ensuring that their rights are recognised and guaranteeing their freedom from this inhuman practice. Only by “Choosing to Challenge” this situation, can we support them in their quest towards justice, dignity, and sustainable alternative livelihoods.

VR Raman is a systems and policy expert who has worked on large-scale programmes and policies across India and multiple development sectors, with a focus on the most marginalised sections of society. Currently, he is head of policy, WaterAid India

Kanika Singh is the lead for sanitation policy initiatives at WaterAid India. She works on policy research and advocacy on issues around sanitation, with a focus on equity and inclusion

Source: Indian Express, 9/03/21

India’s shame: Manual scavenging must end

This requires battling caste, enforcing the law; and restoring dignity to workers

The Supreme Court has equated the practice of manual scavenging with “sending people to gas chambers.” Expressing concerns over the working conditions of manual scavengers, a three-judge bench questioned the Centre on the lack of protective gear like oxygen cylinders and masks.

The court is on the right track, but the problem is deeper. India remains the only country to employ manual scavengers, largely from the Schedule Castes (SCs) and Schedule Tribes (STs). This is no coincidence, for the entire caste system rests on the notion of “purity” and “pollution”, with tasks considered impure assigned to those at the bottom of the hierarchy. This is despite a ban enforced in 1993. The law has only been observed in breach. Fifty workers have died cleaning sewers in the first half of 2019 alone, according to the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK). This comes after a survey conducted in 2018 by the Centre which identified around 40,000 manual scavengers in 14 states. The number is likely much higher.

The rest of the world has invested in mechanised methods of cleaning sewers and septic tanks. It is imperative for the Centre, states and local bodies to emulate global best practices, and eradicate this dangerous and inhuman practice by following the directives and guidelines of the NCSK. This must be accompanied with reintegration into society of those considered “untouchable” through rehabilitation, re-skilling and new employment opportunities (within and outside the field of sanitation). Ensuring strict punishment for those who break the law is long overdue. Swachh Bharat will remain incomplete without restoring the dignity of manual scavengers.

Source: Hindustan Times, 20/09/2019

Towards dignity

Other states should take a leaf out of Delhi’s use of technology to end manual scavenging, instead of living in denial

The introduction of a fleet of 200 machine-equipped trucks is unlikely to bring the scourge of manual scavenging in Delhi to an immediate end. Even then, Delhi’s AAP government deserves to be applauded for deploying technology in an effort to curb this dehumanising practice that has survived three changes in the law in the past 25 years. The sewer-cleaning machines that were launched last week have been designed to meet the demands of the small lanes in the capital’s slums and urban villages. Each unit has a tank to spray water and a sludge compartment to collect the silt cleaned up by the machine — this sludge was usually left along the sewer during manual cleaning. The machines will be given to manual scavengers, who will be trained to operate them.

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The sanitation workers, who will be given the new machines, were identified by a Delhi government survey last year. But like most parts of the country, Delhi lacks an accurate count of the people engaged in manual scavenging. The Delhi government has acknowledged that its enumeration does not depict the extent of the problem in the capital. Other states, however, have not been that sensitive. For example, during a survey last year by the Centre, the governments of Haryana, Bihar and Telangana did not report even a single manual scavenger. But the task force conducting the survey — it comprised members from the ministries of social justice, rural development, drinking water and sanitation, and housing and urban affairs and the National Safai Karamchari Finance and Development Corporation — found that there were 1,221 manual scavengers in Bihar, Haryana had 846 such workers and 288 people in Telangana were engaged in this dehumanising practice.

The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, allows the use of manual labour to clean sewage if the employer provides safety gear. But, in practice, this provision is more flouted than followed. According to the social justice ministry’s records, one person dies every five days while cleaning sewers — unofficial reports indicate that the figure could be much higher. Municipal corporations and local bodies very often outsource the sewer cleaning tasks to private contractors, who do not maintain proper rolls of workers. In case after case of sanitation workers being asphyxiated to death while working toxic sludge pools in different parts of the country, these contractors have denied any association with the deceased. The Delhi government’s move to use machines is a first step towards according dignity and respect to sewer workers. It should be emulated in other parts of the country. However, technology’s emancipatory powers will be realised at their fullest only when the states stop living in denial about manual scavenging.

Source: Indian Express, 4/03/2019

Lethal filth: India's manual scavenging problem

The law should be enforced vigorously to eliminate manual scavenging in its entirety

The death of five young men who were employed to clean a septic tank in an upmarket residential community in New Delhi is a shocking reminder that India’s high-profile sanitation campaign has done little to alter some basic ground realities. Around the same time as the Delhi incident, five workers died in a septic tank in Odisha. The law is not being enforced, and there is no fear of penalties. The workers in Delhi were apparently asked to perform the task in violation of Section 7 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013; a violation can be punished with two years of imprisonment or fine or both. Under the provision, no person, local authority or agency should engage or employ people for hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. Mechanised cleaning of septic tanks is the prescribed norm. But in spite of a well-funded programme such as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in operation, little attention is devoted to this aspect of sanitation. The requirements of worker safety and provision of safety gear for rare instances when human intervention is unavoidable are often ignored. Mere assertions by the Centre that it is pressing State governments to prosecute violators, therefore, ring hollow. More and more incidents are being reported of workers dying in septic tanks. In the absence of political will and social pressure, more lives could be lost because more tanks are being built in rural and urban areas as part of the drive to construct toilets.

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Get real on Swachh: on manual scavenging

 

If the law on manual scavenging is to be effective, the penalties must be uniformly and visibly enforced. It is equally important for State governments to address the lack of adequate machinery to clean septic tanks. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in its manual of 2016 on toilet design acknowledges that in rural areas, mechanical pumps to clear septic tanks are not available. In the southern States, sanitation has expanded along with urbanisation, but it has brought with it a higher number of deaths as workers clean septic tanks manually. For instance, Tamil Nadu recorded 144 fatalities of workers engaged for septic tank cleaning in the past three years, according to official data. On the other hand, toilet designs proposed by the government include those in which fully composted waste must be removed from pits every two years. The Centre must ensure that this does not become a fresh avenue to oppress members of some communities who are expected to perform such work, reflecting social inequalities. India’s sanitation problem is complex, and the absence of adequate toilets is only one lacuna. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should make expansion of the sewer network a top priority and come up with a scheme for scientific maintenance that will end manual cleaning of septic tanks. The law should be enforced vigorously to eliminate manual scavenging in its entirety.

Source: The Hindu, 17/09/2018

Tireless fighter against scavenging

Avijit Ghosh

New Delhi:





Magsaysay Awards For Activist Bezwada Wilson, Carnatic Vocalist TM Krishna

Bezwada Wilson's earliest memory of manual scavenging is that of a young family member telling his uncle, “Why did you give me this job? You should have given me poison.“ “I was barely fours year old then and couldn't really understand why he was so upset.And why he kept smelling his hands all the time,“ recalls Wilson, the 50-year-old Dalit activist who has been selected for the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award.Wilson was raised in Kar nataka's Kolar Gold Fields township. His parents and elder brother were manual scavengers. So was much of the neighbourhood. His early days in school were free of caste prejudice because everyone was from the same colony .
But as he shifted to Kuppam, a small town about 30km away , for higher studies, life became difficult and bewildering as a young Wilson tried to understand what made him different from fellow students.
One day his schoolmates asked him where he lived. He replied, the sweeper's colony .“Till then, they were all affectionate. From then on, they lost interest in me,“ he says.When he spoke about the incident to his parents, they just said, “It's everywhere and nothing new.“ He was eight then. In 1982, Wilson moved back to his home town and started teaching at night to fellow community members.
But within a few years, he realised that illiteracy wasn't the only problem among Dalits. Alcoholism, too, was another major issue. Working at an alcohol de-addiction camp, Wilson learnt a bitter truth.“Some people at the camp told me, you tell us not to drink.But if you see the way we work and where we work, you will understand why we drink,“ he says. His battle against manual scavenging had begun. From 1986-89, Wilson says, he wrote dozens of letters to authorities and the then prime minister and also published articles in newspapers highlighting the scourge.
Then came another turning point in his life. As part of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's birth centenary celebrations, Wilson participated in a cycle rally from Andhra Pradesh to Karnataka lasting 50 days.The rallyists met hundreds of villagers on the way . It turned out to be a voyage of self-discovery .
“I realised there is a word for all the discrimination I had faced. It was called `untouchability`. And that it happens due to the caste system. And to come out of it, there was only the Ambedkar way ,“ says Wilson. He spent large parts of the journey reading, listening and talking about Ambedkar's ideology .
By 1992, he had come up with Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), a people's movement against the social evil. “I realised that the fight is not against the bucket and the broom. The battle was deeper with roots in the caste system,“ says Wilson, a political science graduate.
Manual scavenging was banned by an Act in 1993. In 2013, another Act with more bite was passed. But the practice continues, especially in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharasthra and Tripura. As per 2011 socioeconomic caste census, 1.82 lakh households in rural areas reported themselves as manual scavengers. The 2011 House-listing and Housing Census found that there are about 26 lakh `insanitary' latrines in the country .
The Magsaysay citation details Wilson's work: filing PIL in Supreme Court on the issue, raising awareness, training local leaders and volunteers for the movement.“The SKA has liberated around 3,00,000 scavengers,“ it says. “The entire cleaning of sewage must be mechanised.No worker should stop into the drain. Stop killing us,“ says Wilson. The Magsaysay citation rightly says, “The board of trustees recognizes his (Wilson's) moral energy and prodigious skill in leading a grassroots movement to eradicate the degrading servitude of manual scavenging in India, reclaiming for the dalits the human dignity that is their natural birthright.“
None will disagree.

Source: Times of India, 28-07-2016

Ugly truth: Manual scavenging is for real

Neha Lalchandani

New Delhi:





With only two weeks left for the monsoon to hit the city, desilting of drains by civic bodies and land-owning agencies is on at a frenetic pace.In Sultanpuri, 19-year-old Mohit, his shorts rolled up to almost invisibility and shirt open at the neck, jumps down an open manhole and, with the aid of a hoe, proceeds to pull out the muck that has been piling for months. Mohit, a manual scavenger, is working on daily wages to clear the city's underbelly , wading through silt, faeces and sewage without a single protective cover.
Manual scavenging is banned in Delhi, yet there are several others like Mohit, all of whom belong to the schedule caste of Valmikis, who are carrying out this work day-by-day each year, some of them even losing their lives in the process.
The founder of NGO Impasse in Sultanpuri, Ajay Raaj said that most manual scavengers do this work for about two months before monso on, which is when the maximum desilting of drains takes place. “They do this work for Rs 300 per day but get barely half since the contractors keep some of it. Many of them have to pay to get this work. In Sultanpuri, most such workers live in the slums having migrated from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh several years ago,“ he said.
Delhi banned scavenging in 2013, while the Employment of Manual Scavenging and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 prohibits hiring people for manually carrying human excreta and construction or maintenance of dry latrines.Manual scavenging not just includes cleaning of drains, but also septic tanks and insanitary toilets that contain untreated sewage and human waste.
Interestingly, all government agencies claim that manual scavenging is either not taking place at all or there is little taking place, and that too under supervision. Delhi Jal Board said it has moved to mechanised cleaning, while PWD claims it has been using machines with very small drains being cleaned manually. The three municipal corporations say there is negligible manual scavenging.
Delhi government has, thankfully , refused to accept these claims. The urban development department has asked the agencies to map every district, zone and ward for sa nitary toilets to see where septic tanks are still in use.“Almost 50% of the city is not connected to the sewer system, which makes it evident that manual scavenging is still taking place. But we will be able to issue regulatory directions only when we have data,“ said a senior official. “Due to the high cost of ta king a sewer connection, there are still households without toilets. In areas where DJB has sewers, we are going to start a campaign to first motivate people to take up the connection and later force them,“ added the official.
When manual scavenging was not outlawed, safety measures had to be taken before any individual was asked to step into a drain or pit. This included safety harness, gloves, boots, body oil to keep the muck off, among other equipment.
“In the absence of equipment, a common practice is to give cheap alcohol to the labourer who, after consuming it, won't realise the kind of waste he has to wade into,“ said Harnam Singh, former chairperson of Delhi Safai Karamchari Ayog.
“These workers are not gi ven any medical insurance even though their job results in infections and other diseases. There is no monitoring by senior staff. If the work has been allocated to a contractor, it is the responsibility of the government if there is any mishap,“ Singh added.

Source: Times of India, 16-05-2016

Karnataka worst in the south in manual scavenging numbers

The figures may be under-reported as the definition of manual scavengers was amended in 2013.

With over 15,000 enumerated manual scavengers in rural parts of the State, Karnataka remains in the top five of the ignominious list recorded by the Socio Economic and Caste Census – 2011. While the State also represents the worst of the Southern Region — where the rest of the four States find themselves in the better end of the spectrum — the data also flies in the face of the State government’s claim that just 306 cases of manual scavenging having been registered.

According to the recently released data, Karnataka has 15,375 manual scavengers in rural areas. This represents 0.19 per cent of the more than 80 lakh households enumerated in the survey in 2011. Only Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura fare worse.

The numbers may, in fact, be fundamentally under-reported as the definition of manual scavengers was amended in 2013 to include any sanitary worker handling waste manually. The survey was conducted in 2011 when scavengers were defined only as those who removed night soil.

“This should be a wake-up call for the State. It is a shame, and it has shown how the State has failed to curtail this,” said Narayana, Chairman of the Karnataka State Commission for Safai Karamcharis.

Even till 2013, the State government had shown just 306 “registered” manual scavengers in Karnataka — of which 202 were based out of Bengaluru itself. In statements made since, Minister for Social Welfare H. Anjaneya had estimated the number was “more than 10,000” persons; while, Mr. Narayana claimed it could be as high as 25,000.

“In 2013, the Union government allotted around Rs. 225 crore for manual scavenging relief to the State. As the government showed just 306 people, this money was taken back by the Centre,” said Mr. Narayana, who added that an independent, “comprehensive” census was proposed to ascertain “actual” figures.

Activist B. Venkatesh, convener of Dalit Bahujan Movement, said the census showed “clearly” that the State was underplaying the issue. “There seems to be no will to bring manual scavengers to the mainstream,” he said.

Clifton Rosario from Alternative Law Forum, which handled a manual scavenging petition with the High Court of Karnataka, said the census figures may be unrepresented, even considering the old definition.

Bonded labour bad too

It isn’t just in manual scavenging numbers that the State finds itself in the dock. The Socio Economic and Caste Census – 2011 notes that the State has had 18,452 “released” bonded labourers, which makes it the fifth worst in the country.

What they have to say:

Narayana, Chairman, Karnataka State Commission for Safai Karamcharis: The census figures are an underestimation. During my visits to nearly 22 districts, I can say with certainty that every village has manual scavengers. This will continue as there are no drainage facilities in most rural areas.

B. Venkatesh, activist: Though 15,375 is much more than what the State government claims, the census figures may be under-reported. But, what it definitely shows is that there is no will in Karnataka to put a curb on manual scavenging.

Clifton Rosario, Alternative Law Forum:

It is sad that Karnataka, which was the pioneer in the eradication of manual scavenging four decades ago, still possess such high numbers.

***

Socio Economic and Caste Census – 2011

No. of households enumerated: 80.48 lakh

Manual scavengers: 15,375

Ministry of Social Justice note to Lok Sabha – 2013

7,740 houses in Karnataka are manually serviced

Estimated manual scavengers in Karnataka (urban and rural areas) is 14,555

Census 2011

13.6 per cent of nearly 13 lakh households in Karnataka have pit latrines

Legislation

Scavenging banned under The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 and The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013

Congress’ Assembly election manifesto promised to end manual scavenging

Jun 13 2014 : Mirror (Pune)

TRAPPED IN THE DEEP

Vijay.Chavan @timesgroup.com TWEET @ThePuneMirror





NCSC sounds an alarm on the use of manual scavengers, which is a clear violation of 2013 Act; asks PCMC to pull up erring health officers

Eight months have gone by since the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 came into being, but civic bodies are unable to shed their primitive inhuman practise of manually cleaning night soil clogging drains and septic tanks. This continued callous atti tude has finally pushed the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) to issue a notice to Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) seeking action against its health inspectors and a report on its latest deployment of manual scavengers, that provoked a formal complaint from Safai Karmachari Takrar Nivaran Samiti.This notice came after several complaints, including a censuring exactly a year ago, when a man was sent swimming through sewage to remove the blocks that had caused flooding of a road at Nehrunagar.
At the time PCMC had responded with an apology letter with an assurance that such acts would not be repeated. While the warning then had no legal binding, the new law enacted in September last has now put PCMC on the wrong side of law, when it sent another set of men into a brimming and clogged manhole at Dapodi earlier this week, without any protective gear. “As per Section 7 of the Act, we want punitive measures to be taken against the concerned health inspectors and the department head, on the lines of disciplinary actions as stipulated in the corporation’s rule book,” Anuradha Ghodkhane, assistant director of NCSC, stated in the notice. She also pointed out that the continued incidence of using manual labour to clean sewage lines and septic tanks is very disturbing.
“It is a case of gross negligence to not even provide the gear stipulated in the Act against manual scavenging. Punitive action is imperative given that PCMC is a habitual violator of the law,” noted Sagar Charan, advocate and member of Safai Karmachari Takrar Nivaran Samiti. He is the one who
registered the complaint with NCSC about the Dapodi incident on Tuesday. He pointed out that not only is the practice inhuman, it raises serious health concerns.Desperate to downplay their indiscretion, Assistant Commissioner heading PCMC’s health department, Dnyaneshwar Dhere, claimed, “It is true that manual labour has been used to remove ‘mud’ from manholes on some occasions, but they were deployed by contractors.” Interestingly, in the hope of shedding all onus, he rushed to add, “Manual scavenging work of the civic body is entirely contracted out. We will initiate action against such contractors if found guilty.
The Dapodi case will be probed.” Unfortunately, PCMC is not alone in these transgressions.
“Even Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) employees are asked to do such work manually,
to cut costs involved in deploying machinery,” said a member of Mehatar-Walmiki —a labour union attached to PMC’s health department. He added, “Besides its direct involvement in a few of the assignments, the civic body, given its depleting work-force, largely outsources the work and contractors are ruthless when it comes to cutting corners.” “We use manual scavenging only in shallow spaces. Many a time, the square-shaped manholes render machines unviable. PMC has 10 SPT (specialised plumbing technology) machines to drain out such blockages. Except for slum areas, we essentially use machines as made mandatory by law,” said Suresh Jagtap, assistant commissioner Solid Waste department of PMC.Sadly, the scavengers whose interests are sought to be protected by the Act, are the last people to
assert themselves, inured by their job profile and more petrified of losing their employment. “We have no option but to enter these manholes to clean the sewage lines that get blocked by plastics and other solid waste. The contractors believe better work is done when human hands are involved. If they turned to machines, we would have no jobs, so how can we protest?” explained Ram Walmiki (name changed), who works with the health and sanitation department of PCMC.“We are constantly petrified when machines will snatch away our jobs. Our people who work on contracts are willing to work at marginal rates to remain cost effective options for the contractors. We drink to escape the filth of our jobs and many of us have turned alcoholics,” said another employee of PMC, who did not wish to be identified.