CUTTACK: The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has continued engaging sanitary workers in manual scavenging of drains without providing them any protective gear, in blatant violation of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act-2013.
One such incident came to light on Thursday when a man, holding a motor tube, was seen swimming bare body in the main storm water channel (MSWC-I) stretching from Matru Bhawan to Nuabazar, cleaning the weeds with the help of a bamboo stick. Not only that, some minor boys were also allegedly engaged at the site to remove the weeds from the banks of the drain in violation of the Child Labour(Prohibition and Regulation) Act.
“Venturing into drains bare body for manual cleaning work is not just risky but also life-threatening as the channels contain dirty, polluted water. They are laden with sharp items like broken glasses, metals and spikes besides poisonous snakes in the waterbodies. Also, there was no one present at the spot to supervise the work,” alleged city-based activist Jitendra Kumar Sahoo.
Even though manual scavenging has already claimed many lives in the past, the civic body has seemingly not yet learnt its lesson and openly violating the law. In April 15, 2021, two workers had died of asphyxiation and another had become critical while cleaning a sewerage system of 15-ft depth at CDA-sector-10.
In 2018, a labourer had lost his life and two others trying to rescue him were critically affected while cleaning a tunnel of JICA-funded Odisha Integrated Sanitation Improvement Project (OSIP) that was being carried out by Odisha Water Supply and Sewerage Board (OWSSB) in Mahidas Bazar area of the city.
Not only that, the National Commission for Safai Karmacharis (NCSK) which in December 2021 while reviewing implementation of Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act-2013, had raised serious concern over the abject apathy of the CMC towards providing the basic safety gear and facilities to sanitary workers.
As per sources, around 400 regular and 800 contractual Safai Karmacharis are currently employed in the CMC to carry out various types of cleaning works in the city. “The civic body should provide safety kits to sanitary workers engaged in hazardous drain cleaning work apart from using designated machinery for the purpose,” Sahoo opined.
He also submitted a petition to the Odisha Human Rights Commission, Labour commissioner, Odisha and secretary, H&UD department urging them to inquire into the matter and initiate legal action against CMC authorities for the negligence. CMC commissioner Anam Charan Patra and district labour officer Prasanna Pradhan could not be reached for their comments.