Despite laws and court orders, manual scavenging continues to kill workers

In May alone, 12 people died due to this hazardous and dehumanising labour practice in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

Despite a ban on manual scavenging, the practice remains rampant across different parts of the country. | Photo Credit: S.S. KUMAR

In May 2023, an alarming number of deaths due to manual scavenging were reported in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Twelve people lost their lives in a single month, with eight deaths occurring in Uttar Pradesh and four in Delhi. On May 3, 2023, in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, two daily wage workers, Kokan Mandal, 40, and Nooni Mandal, 36, died while cleaning a septic tank at a private residence. Ishwar Kumar, Nooni’s brother, said that his brother had no prior experience in sewer or septic tank cleaning and was a construction worker. The employer initially offered Rs.8 lakh as a settlement to the family but later blocked the payment, said Kumar.

In another tragedy on May 12, in Rohini, Delhi, two men died from asphyxiation while cleaning a sewer outside a mall. They were not provided with protective gear. Hare Krishna Prasad, 37, died on arrival at the hospital, leaving behind his wife and 10-month-old daughter. Sagar, 22, was put on a ventilator but succumbed to his injuries on May 18.

Both victims were employed by Sun Operations, a housekeeping and maintenance agency based in Delhi. The agency admitted to Frontline that an accident had taken place in D-Mall, Rohini, but the matter has been “cleared”. It refused to comment further on the issue. Sagar’s brother-in-law, Sanju, says that Sagar had no training in sewage cleaning and was hired as a housekeeper.

Sanju (second from right), Sagar’s brother-in-law, with Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM) members. Sagar, 22, lost his life while cleaning a septic tank of a mall in Rohini, Delhi. | Photo Credit: DASAM

Caste discrimination at the core

All the victims from Rohini and Noida belonged to Scheduled Castes (SC) communities. “It’s not a matter of Delhi or Uttar Pradesh but of how the nation values life,” says Sanjeev Kumar, secretary of Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM). “Nobody cares when they die, nobody is scared, and nobody feels guilty. It’s easier for the government to compensate for the loss of life with a few lakhs of rupees but they are not interested in investing in processes like mechanisation that would yield long-term benefits for the manual scavengers.”

Despite FIRs being registered under the Manual Scavenging Act (officially known as the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013) in some cases, many go unreported due to “settlements” between private entities, the police, and the victims’ families, allege the activists. Deaths are often labelled as negligence or accidental, suggesting the actual number of deaths is higher than reported.

This is despite a decade of legislation aimed at banning this dehumanising practice under the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, and the more comprehensive 2013 Act on manual scavenging. The laws were intended to not only prohibit manual scavenging but also to rehabilitate those involved through training and financial assistance.

FIR of the Noida case, mentioning the relevant sections of the Manual Scavenging Act, 2013. | Photo Credit: Ishwar Kumar

Despite stronger laws and repeated court orders to mechanise sanitation work, manual scavenging remains prevalent in India. This suggests a systemic failure to move away from exploiting cheap labour from marginalised communities. For centuries, Dalits, especially the Valmiki community, have borne the brunt of this practice.

In December 2021, the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Virendra Kumar, disclosed in the Lok Sabha that there were 58,098 registered manual scavengers, but only 31.3 per cent had received skill development training and 2.71 per cent received a capital subsidy. Bezwada Wilson, National Convener of the Safai Karamchari Andolan, criticises these figures. “The government has done nothing and they have not initiated the survey of safai karamcharis. When we provide data, some officials threaten us by saying, ‘How can you do this work? It has been banned, you know that. We can even send you to jail.’” Wilson says the government is not concerned about identifying people who are manual scavengers. “This is why the practice persists even after 75 years of independence.”

Deadly consequences

Asphyxiation is the root cause of death for many manual scavengers. In septic tanks, harmful gases like hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide get trapped in sediment. When disturbed, these gases are released suddenly, incapacitating and often killing those inside. During summers and monsoons, this problem worsens as the dried mud makes it difficult to gauge the sludge composition.

Government agencies are legally barred from appointing individuals for manual scavenging, yet they circumvent this by hiring private organisations. These organisations, in turn, hire individuals without proper training, allege the actvists. Ishwar Kumar, who lost his brother in Noida, says, “‘Sam Dam Dand Bhed’ ka hisaab rehta hai. Kaise bhi karke logo ko manao ki yeh kaam kare [They will try everything to influence people to do this task].” Daily wagers from destitute communities, tempted by the promise of money, take up this dangerous work.

Deaths in government civic departments have decreased, but whether this is due to proper law implementation is debatable. Private agencies are increasingly employed for sewage cleaning, even in government-sanctioned work. Dharmender Bhati, executive president of Municipal Workers Lal Jhanda Union, says, “This trend started around 2010 in the Delhi Jal Board. Before that, the Board used to hire people on its own contracts. Since 2000, not a single worker has been employed on a permanent basis in the Jal Board.”

Ashok Kumar Taank, joint secretary of DASAM, says that the Delhi Jal Board has only 1,200 permanent workers left, while around 700 are contractual. He stresses that 98-99 per cent of sanitation workers are Dalits, who suffer inhuman conditions.

Private organisations and casualisation

Private organisations like Smart Green hire individuals on a contractual basis. The nature of the contract is such that it affects the workers’ financial stability and forces them to risk their lives for meagre earnings. Bhati notes, “The Delhi Jal Board pays contractors around Rs.20,000-22,000 per person but the contractors in between divert the funds and the workers receive only a maximum of Rs.10,000-12,000. We want the outsourcing of labour to stop in the Delhi Jal Board so that workers receive their entire salaries.”

Fact finding conducted by DASAM in Sarita Vihar done on May 27 where two workers died while cleaning a septic tank. | Photo Credit: DASAM

The judiciary has taken a firm stand against manual scavenging. The Manual Scavenging Act mandates Rs.10 lakh as compensation for the families of septic tank workers who die at work. In 2021, the Madras High Court suggested revising this compensation to account for inflation. In October 2023, the Supreme Court directed that compensation for sewer deaths be increased to Rs.30 lakh, stating, “This shall be the amount to be paid, by the concerned agency, i.e., the Union, the Union Territory or the State as the case may be.”

Rehabilitation and mechanisation challenges

Effective rehabilitation and reskilling of manual scavengers are critical. Mechanisation has reduced deaths but also led to job losses without adequate support for displaced workers. Vasundhara Jhobta, national coordinator of DASAM, says that private companies profit from mechanisation while those exploited are left unemployed.

Efforts by the Dalit Industrial Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Aam Aadmi Party introduced 189 machines for mechanised sewer cleaning recently. However, families of deceased manual scavengers often cannot afford the Rs.5 lakh required to procure these vehicles. Ashok Kumar Taank asserts that these vehicles should be allocated to affected families, but this has not happened effectively.

In 2022, the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) scheme was launched to aid workers with capital subsidies and other benefits. However, its effectiveness remains to be seen. “This scheme is not implemented anywhere successfully. It is a demo model that they are testing,” says Wilson. “There are women who are waiting for their liberation from this casteist and patriarchal problem.”

Despite being a critical issue, manual scavenging has rarely featured in electoral discussions. The Congress addressed this in its 2024 manifesto, pledging to end the practice by ensuring rehabilitation and reskilling of manual scavengers. In contrast, the BJP’s manifesto remains silent on the issue.

In sum, despite laws, judicial interventions, and promises from political parties, the practice continues, reflecting a deep-seated societal and governmental reluctance to eliminate this inhumane work. As Sanjeev Kumar of DASAM noted: “This country—we’re talking about the moon, we’re talking about a $5 trillion economy, we’re talking about the nation’s development and reaching the moon—but look at the earth, people don’t have a dignified life.”

Vedaant Lakhera and Vitasta Kaul interned with Frontline during the month of May 2024.