Haryana saw death of 40 septic tank cleaners in five years

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, April 6

Forty workers died cleaning sewers and septic tanks in Haryana in the last five years. The figure is the third highest in the country with Tamil Nadu reporting 52 deaths and Uttar Pradesh 46 between 2018 and 2022.

The information was given by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale in the Rajya Sabha on April 5 in reply to a question on manual scavenging. In all, 308 persons have died cleaning sewers and septic tanks in the country in the last five years. Delhi reported 33 such deaths and Punjab seven. No such death has been reported from Himachal Pradesh.

Athawale also informed the House that “there is no report of people engaged in manual scavenging”, which was prohibited on December 6, 2013. The minister said under the Swachh Bharat Mission since October 2, 2014, over 11.05 crore sanitary toilets had been constructed in rural areas and over 62.81 lakh in urban areas.

“This work made a huge contribution towards ending the practice of manual scavenging. Two surveys were conducted in 2013 and 2018 for the identification of manual scavengers. All identified manual scavengers have been provided one-time cash assistance,” Athawale said.

Meanwhile, Haryana State Commission for Safai Karamcharis chairman Krishan Kumar said: “Most of the deaths in Haryana were of untrained workers cleaning private septic tanks. In the government sector, machines are used for cleaning sewers. In the last seven days alone, four such workers died in Bahadurgarh while cleaning a septic tank and two died in Panipat after entering a sewer. All were untrained workers. We are creating awareness among workers.”