Sewer deaths: No end to manual scavenging in India

THE abominable practice of manual scavenging continues to be a blot on India’s conscience. Over 620 sanitation workers have died cleaning sewers and septic tanks across the country since 2017, as per data tabled by the Union government in the Lok Sabha earlier this week. The numbers are stark, the lapses are starker. While 539 families reportedly received full compensation, 52 did not get even a penny. Financial aid for the kin of deceased workers is not charity; it is a legal and moral obligation. When even this baseline response falters, it lays bare systemic apathy, which can be detrimental to a nation aspiring to become Viksit (developed) by 2047.

According to the government, a 2023 survey conducted under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, found no manual scavengers in any district nationwide. The ground reality, however, is completely different. There is no let-up in tragic incidents: three sanitation workers lost their lives after inhaling toxic gases while cleaning a septic tank at a leading hospital in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on Tuesday. The National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE), launched by the government in 2023-24 with the aim of eliminating manual scavenging by promoting the mechanisation of sewer and septic tank cleaning, has a long way to go. Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale has admitted that “no measurable indicators have so far been identified to show enhanced efficiency or productivity due to mechanisation.”

The persistence of complaints — 842 were received by the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis last year — about unpaid wages, lack of safety gear and caste-based discrimination shows that the rot runs deep. Despite official claims that sanitation work is occupation-based, data confirms overwhelming representation of workers from historically marginalised communities. The world’s fastest-growing major economy must ensure that no citizen is forced to work in subhuman conditions. Dignity of labour cannot remain a mere slogan; it should become a lived reality.