NEW DELHI: Eighty-three people have died while cleaning sewerage lines till November 6, according to government data submitted in Parliament. Gujarat, Haryana and Tamil Nadu accounted for 14 deaths each — the most for states. The data was submitted in response to the question on how many deaths happened since 2016.
According to the data, there were 50 deaths in 2016, 83 in 2017, and 66 in 2018. Since 2016, a total of 282 deaths have been recorded by the government, with the highest number of deaths reported from Tamil Nadu. Between 2013 and 2019, over 60,000 manual scavengers have been identified in the survey. Over 35,000 manual scavengers were identified from Uttar Pradesh - the highest across states.
While over 7,000 manual scavengers were identified from Maharashtra, Uttarakhand identified over 6,000 manual scavengers. A total amount of `180 crore has been spent since 2013-14 for providing rehabilitation benefits for identified manual scavengers, according to another response to a Parliament question. A central sector scheme, Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) is implemented through the National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC).