Despite ban, manual scavenging goes unchecked in Tarn Taran

Our Correspondent

Tarn Taran, February 12

Despite manual scavenging having been prohibited under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, sewer men of the Municipal Council (MC) are being ‘forced’ to clean sewers manually and that too without any safety gear.

A few yards away from the MC office on the Muradpur road, a half-naked sewer man, Bali, was forced to enter a manhole without wearing any safety gear. Channa, another sewer man, was asked to enter the manhole, while his associates Swaraj Singh Gobinda and Gurcharan Singh were pulling out the garbage. Though the Act prohibits “hazardous cleaning”, sewer men can be commonly seen cleaning sewers without wearing any safety kits in the city.

The sewerage system in the town has collapsed and many sewers are chocked. The sewer men said they had been forced by the officials to do the job manually. Sanitary Inspector Baljinder Singh said: “I have instructed the officials concerned not to violate the law again”.

The Local Self Government Department has issued instruction to stop the practice. A majority of the workers involved in the job were Dalits, who are unaware of the law.