New Delhi, Aug 2 (Agency) Over the last five years, 330 persons have died while undertaking “hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks”, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said, “There is no report of deaths due to manual scavenging. However, 330 persons have died due to accidents while undertaking hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks during the last five years”. The Minister however also said there is no report of people currently engaged in manual scavenging as defined under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. “Manual scavenging is prohibited with effect from 6.12.2013. No person or agency can engage or employ any person for manual scavenging from the above date,” the Minister said. He also said since October 2, 2014, more than 10.99 crore sanitary toilets have been constructed in rural areas and over 62.65 lakh in urban areas and insanitary toilets have been converted into sanitary toilets.
“This work made a huge contribution towards ending the practice of manual scavenging,” he added. As per the reply, the highest number of deaths while cleaning sewage was reported from Uttar Pradesh with 47 persons dying between 2017 and 2021, followed by Tamil Nadu where the number of deaths was 43, and Delhi where 42 persons died. In response to another question, Athawale said the government has formulated a scheme “National Action Plan for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE)”, a joint project of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, aiming at having zero fatalities in sanitation work in India, and to ensure all sanitation work is performed by skilled workers. It also aims at ensuring no sanitation workers should come in direct contact with human faecal matter, creating Self Help groups for sanitation workers, to ensure all sewer and Septic tank sanitation workers (SSWs) have access to alternative livelihoods, among other things.