BHUBANESWAR : A petition has been filed with the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) over civic bodies employing sanitation workers, particularly those belonging to SC communities, for cleaning drains without any protective gear like gloves, masks and gumboots. Rights activists Biswapriya Kanungo and Narendra Mohanty filed the petition based on a report ‘Drains of Shame’ published in The New Indian Express last week.
They sought OHRC direction for review of the implementation of The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, GARIMA scheme of the state government and human rights violation of SC people who are employed for cleaning drains in the urban areas without safety kits and proper wages, by an independent body.
They further suggested that the H&UD and SC&ST Development departments be asked by the OHRC to survey all sanitation workers employed in drain desiltation and road cleaning work, and bring them under the GARIMA scheme.