When it comes to sewer deaths, this is Gujarat's stinking reality

􀁳 December 2, 2018: Four sewer cleaners choked to death after inhaling toxic fumes when they entered the sewage tank of a treatment plant on Maser Road in Vadodara. The four victims were identified as Kamlesh Jadav (24), Vinod Jadav (25), Manish Padhiyar (23) and Kiran Solanki (22).

􀁳 June 12, 2018: Sewage cleaner Dalsukh Chabaria, 35, died of asphyxiation after he entered a manhole near Jamalpur. Although he did not work for the AMC, he was hired on contract to do the job and was lowered into the sink without proper equipment.

It’s illegal, it’s demeaning and it’s fatal. And yet, not only does manual scavenging happen, Gujarat is among the top two states in the entire country to register the highest number of sewer death cases since 1993, revealed a reply to an RTI filed by Mirror. An insidious form of caste discrimination, manual scavenging is considered one of country’s deadliest jobs.

Despite being banned in India 26 years ago, the black hole of death continues to swallow human lives. Of the 705 deaths that have taken place across the nation between 1993 and January 2019, 132 were registered in Gujarat alone, replied National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) to an RTI query raised by Mirror.

Ahmedabad, with at least 49 deaths, recorded the highest number of deaths in the State. The Gujarat Safai Kamdar Development Corporation claims that sewers are no longer been cleaned manually, yet the State has registered 18 deaths between 2016 and 2018 according to information provided by GSKDC itself.

These deaths raise justified questions regarding the derogatory practice as manual scavenging is confined to people belonging to lower castes who are forced to do the job to earn a living. The pay is usually low and the safety measures provided is nil. Hiten Makwana, a 38-year-old safai worker from Ahmedabad, says, “We are not provided safety gear like gloves, mask and uniform. Nobody organises medical camps at regular intervals to keep a check on the diseases we may contract while cleaning sewers.

In violation of the law, contractors force us enter manholes. In the 21st century, we are still made to clean human waste without proper protection. We are humans but not even offered drinking water by many people due to casteism. We do not get gratuity or pension from the government and earn a meagre Rs 6,000 per month or even less.”

Vadgam MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani said, “This is blatant disregard of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. The Gujarat government has no desire to end this obnoxious, filthy and inhuman practice. They spent Rs 3,000 crore on the Statue of Unity, but no money is being utilised to eradicate manual scavenging. The State government has callous attitude towards manual scavengers.”

He adds, “Robots have been introduced to end manual scavenging. With Rs 1,000-crore budget, 10,000 such robots can be purchased. The Delhi government has made exceptional efforts to put an end to deaths caused by sewer cleaning. However, the local bodies in Gujarat are not willing to purchase the equipment necessary for scavengers. The Gujarat government wishes that untouchability and manual scavenging continue to exist.”

According to NCSK, Gujarat follows Tamil Nadu, which tops the list with 196 deaths. The State leaves behind Karnataka – third in the list – by a huge margin of 63 deaths. However, activists believe that the real death rate is probably much higher– with many Indian authorities still undercounting the number of such workers in their state. NCSK compiles the data based mostly on newspaper reports and numbers supplied by a few state governments.

AMC Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Sewage) VK Mehta expressed shock at the numbers. He said, “We are following the guidelines laid down by Supreme Court. The sewer cleaners are not supposed to enter manholes. However, if death occurs, they are compensated as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court.”

NCSK chairman Manhar Zala said, “We have compensated 412 families whose members have succumbed while cleaning sewers or septic tanks. The Commission has pressed for mechanisation of scavenging so that the workers do not have to enter sewers to clean it. We have already implemented it in New Delhi. Soon, we will take steps to ensure that mechanisation takes place in Gujarat, too.”

K H Pandya, managing director of Gujarat Safai Kamdar Development Corporation, said, “Safai workers no longer clean sewers manually. The local bodies have provided them with machines which are used to clean the sewers and septic tanks. Most of the deaths are caused due to the negligence of private operators who do not take appropriate precautions, and risk the lives of sewer cleaners for a few thousands. Government bodies have been strict about not allowing manual scavenging.”

Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Ishwar Parmar said, “The high number of deaths are a thing of the past, and we will ensure that the sewer deaths do not occur henceforth. If the private contractors force them to get into manholes, they should complain to us. We have provided machines which can clean sewers so that workers do not have to enter manholes.”

Congress MLA Naushad Solanki said, “The civic bodies outsource sewer cleaning to private operators and wash their hands of the deaths caused by ‘negligence’. This is the sorry state of the so-called Gujarat Model. The Gujarat government must first accept that there are manual scavengers in the State. The government also does not have proper schemes to rehabilitate scavengers because it refuses to accept that the problem exists in the first place.”