Let's raise a stink over manual scavenging in Karnataka

New Indian Express

2 days ago

BENGALURU: The recent death of a 31-year-old labourer, Puttaswamy, who developed breathing issues while cleaning a manhole at Akshaya Nagar in RMC Yard police limits in Bengaluru, has exposed the ineffective implementation of the ban on manual scavenging in the state. While Bengalureans write codes for all the world's ills, it is a shame that we cannot fix our societal flaws.
Systemic exclusion from identification of manual scavengers, lack of rehabilitation, institutional neglect, a non-functional 'statutory body' Karnataka State Safai Karmachari Commission, and lack of political will to implement the ban are some of the major reasons that experts point out for continuation of the inhuman practice.
Safai Karmachari Kavalu Samithi Karnataka (SKKS) is a community-based organisation advocating the rights and dignity of sanitation workers across Karnataka since 2010. SKKS state convener KB Obalesha laments that the manual scavenging practice, solely affecting the Dalit community, continues due to the state government's failure to fulfil its constitutional and statutory obligations.
Obalesha, who is on a mission to end manual scavenging and uplift the sanitation worker community, says, 'The Government of India enacted the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, and the more comprehensive Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, came up in 2013. Some of the key provisions of the 2013 Act include elimination of insanitary latrines and prohibition of their construction, ban on manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning practices, mandatory identification and rehabilitation of all manual scavengers, and prescribed safety equipment and procedures for sanitation workers.
Obalesha recalls that in Dr Balram Singh vs Union of India, the Supreme Court of India, through its judgment dated October 20, 2023, directed that in all sewer or septic tank deaths, a compensation of Rs 30 lakh must be paid by the State to the family of the deceased. 'Seven manual scavenging deaths have occurred in Karnataka since the SC order in 2023, and the state government has paid no compensation to the families of the deceased. Partial compensation was paid in two cases by private entities,' Obalesha says.
Failure to identify manual scavengers
Obalesha argues that despite the 2013 Act's clear definition and obligation to identify manual scavengers, the state government has grossly under-identified them. 'While Census 2011 recorded over 1.88 million insanitary latrines, only 7,483 manual scavengers have been identified to date.