People stand on the banks of river Yamuna coated with polluted foam in New Delhi on Dec 26, 2021. (SAJJAD HUSSAIN / AFP)

Sanitation worker Santosh Kumar finds himself very lucky to have escaped death.

The 48-year-old resident of Zafrabad in northeast Delhi last year nearly drowned while cleaning a septic tank with colleagues, one of whom died. The tank was much deeper than what they had been told. 

Yet Kumar’s right eye was permanently damaged but he has never received any compensation. His family of five, including two sons, his wife and a 75-year-old mother, survive on the equivalent of around $187 per month. Each dive into the sewer earns Santosh anywhere between $4 and $7. 

A contractual employee of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, Kumar is scared to work as a sanitary worker, but cannot avoid the dangerous work. 

Despite a law — Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers Act, 2013 — being in place, the practice of manual scavenging remains widespread across India

“What other option do we have to survive? Poverty leaves you with no option,” he lamented.

The experience of Kumar and his co-workers failed to raise the alarm. Six people died within a week in March in New Delhi, the national capital, in two separate incidents in sewage pits after inhaling toxic gases. 

Despite a law — Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers Act, 2013 — being in place, the practice of manual scavenging remains widespread across India. 

At least 24 sanitation workers in India were reported to have died on the job in March alone, due to either asphyxiation or drowning inside sewers, but the true number could be even higher, according to WaterAid, an NGO that works on sanitation and hygiene. 

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At least 24 sanitation workers in India were reported to have died on the job in March alone, due to either asphyxiation or drowning inside sewers, but the true number could be even higher, according to WaterAid, an NGO that works on sanitation and hygiene

“The death count is based on figures we could collate from a few states and mostly English and Hindi newspapers. There might have been several instances of similar incidents in regional language papers which we could not count,” said an official of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, or NCSK, involved in counting of actual death and injuries.  

Safai karamcharis is the Hindi word for sanitation workers. 

The NCSK has repeatedly requested all state governments and local municipal bodies to introduce a mechanized system of sewer cleaning and to register police complaints in case of violations of the law, said Manhar Valjibhai Zala, former chairperson of NCSK, a statutory body that was set up by an act of parliament for the welfare of sanitation workers. 

One person had died every five days between 2017 and 2018, on an average, while cleaning sewers and septic tanks across the country, according to numbers collated by the NCSK. 

“We had asked states to identify those involved in these jobs but the states deny the existence of manual scavenging as the practice is banned under law. As a result, in many cases, the families of the dead don’t even get the compensation,” said Zala.

A man walks past piled up garbage along a street in Siliguri on Feb 20, 2021 on the fourth day of municipal garbage collectors strike demanding the increase of wages and job permanency. (DIPTENDU DUTTA / AFP)

The Indian government said that there were no reports of deaths in the country due to manual scavenging, but admitted that 161 workers have died due to accidents while undertaking hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks during the last three years.

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We had asked states to identify those involved in these jobs but the states deny the existence of manual scavenging as the practice is banned under law. As a result, in many cases, the families of the dead don’t even get the compensation.

Manhar Valjibhai Zala, former chairperson of NCSK, a statutory body set up by an act of parliament for the welfare of sanitation workers

The government differentiates between manual scavenging — a caste-based practice of people cleaning human excreta by hand — and the practice of cleaning sewers and septic tanks. 

Experts said the latter is a mere extension of the banned practice of manual scavenging. 

In a written statement in the upper house of parliament, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar said on April 6 that 58,098 manual scavengers were identified across the country in two surveys. 

Most of them are engaged in the manual cleaning of sewers, septic tanks, pits and drains. Responding to another question in parliament, junior minister of social justice and empowerment, Ramdas Athawale, said that 971 people have died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks since 1993. 

The government’s statement came one week after four people died inside a sewer while cleaning in north Delhi area. 

“In November 2017 when I was cleaning a septic tank near Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi, my foot slipped into the tank. I fell unconscious as it was filled with poisonous gas,” said Manoj Chandel, a manual sanitation worker in Jahangirpuri of Northwest Delhi. 

The government differentiates between manual scavenging — a caste-based practice of people cleaning human excreta by hand — and the practice of cleaning sewers and septic tanks

When Manoj regained consciousness in a hospital a few days later, he found that his right leg was permanently damaged.

When you are engaging a sanitation worker to clean a septic tank without protective gear, the work is also a form of manual scavenging and the actual death count is much higher than the official data, said Bezwada Wilson, a prominent activist who is working to eradicate manual scavenging from India. 

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“The practice of cleaning dry latrine is prevalent in (the states of) Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir (region). We have evidence of this and when we give this evidence, the government denies it,” said Wilson, adding that the government’s denial is not a new thing.

Though authorities announced two years ago that mechanized facilities would be provided to stop manual scavenging, no mechanization has been done, said Wilson, who feels that political will is lacking to address the issue.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.