BENGALURU: Even though the law makes any form of manual scavenging a crime, on Saturday, Bengaluru saw a young man’s life snuffed out because of the long-standing failure to enforce the law.
The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers (and their Rehabilitation) Act 2013 makes the handling of human excreta in any form manually a punishable offence and mandates that governments rehabilitate people engaged in such work. However, after the rehabilitation of 74 people in 1993- 94 under an earlier law, there has been no progress in eliminating human intervention in the disposal and management of human excreta.
The government of Karnataka has identified 2,497 people engaged in manual scavenging of which 302 are in Bengaluru Urban and 474 in Bengaluru Rural districts. Let alone rehabilitation, the government has not yet even begun the process of approaching them. The Karnataka State Safai Karmachari Development Corporation was formed in 2017-18 to rehabilitate such people, managing director P Nagesh told The New Sunday Express.
He said that in the next 10 days, online applications would be made available, urging people to apply for rehabilitation, a livelihood of their choice. Subsidies of up to Rs 10 lakh would be offered to set up businesses, Nagesh said. Bezwada Wilson, National Convenor of Safai Karmachari Andolan told TNSE that the death of one more person is a major shock. “There are jetting and sucking machines, but still these people risk their lives to earn a living. It is not just them, but also supervisors, those who hire them, and the government who are at fault. Last year 118 manual scavengers died. This year, in January alone, 7 people have died in India. This shows the apathy of the government,” he said.
The state government did not have data on the total number of jetting and sucking machines in Bengaluru. The state has 500 machines of which a majority have been sanctioned for Bengaluru, they said.
According to the law, entering a septic tank, clearing, cleaning, carrying or disposing of human excreta in any manner by a human, is an offence. It is only in case of an emergency can one enter, but with special safety equipment such as oxygen cylinders, masks, protective clothes, gum boots etc, which is absent in all cases where deaths occur, Wilson said. The deaths clearly indicate that the machines are not being utilised, he added.
Lakshman Reddy, Joint Director, Social Welfare Department, Bengaluru Urban District said that this state of affairs was not acceptable. “FIRs are being filed and strict action will be taken against all those who are responsible. Manual scavenging is banned and despite that a person has died. All those responsible will be dealt with,” he said.