On March 13, the Safai Shramik Union wrote to MLA Vinod Nikole, CPI(M)), highlighting the lack of legal protection afforded to the Valmiki Samaj, which traditionally indulges in sanitation and cleaning work in our society, and demanded that a new legislation be drafted to establish and protect sanitation workers’ rights. The letter emphasised the ill-treatment of sanitation workers by moneylenders and contractors, who treat the workers like slaves and even use casteist slurs. Workers face threats of termination because they have no job security, even after working for the same people for the last 10-15 years.

A sanitation worker (or sanitary worker) is a person responsible for cleaning, maintaining, operating, or emptying the equipment or technology at any step of the sanitation chain. Presently, labour laws –recently truncated into labour codes—are supposed to, but have been found wanting to address needs of workers in workplaces. For example, it is mandatory for factories to have separate latrines and urinals for men and women under the Factories Act, 1948.

For the worst of the jobs in this sector, manual scavenging, a central law already in place  that is meant to protect the rights of manual scavengers who use buckets and brooms to clean human excreta is presently completely ineffective, with the Indian Railways as the greatest violator. This law, the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, ten years down lacks implementation. According to Section 2(g) of the latter Act, the definition of Manual Scavenger was expanded to A detailed look into the jurisprudence governing manual scavenging, researched consistently by Citizens for Justice and Peace, can be accessed here.

Furthermore, this letter of the Safai Shramik Union, drew attention to the lack of support shown by police, who refuse to file complaints or take action, making justice inaccessible. The letter also describes how, despite legal prohibitions, manual scavenging has continued in our country, providing a way for the community to earn money and make ends meet. However, as this work becomes more mechanical, the community is facing an abyss of unemployment. This community is now buried under debt from private moneylenders as it suffers from the taint of unemployment and gross ignorance.

The letter likewise points out the sanitation workers’ inability to advance due to a lack of government and cooperative facilities, as well as a lack of education, job security, and financial support. Considering the aforementioned issues, the workers have demanded a law that includes provisions for providing shelter, education, business, job, and respect to sanitation workers, as well as an employment guarantee, so that unemployment does not rise and the practice of contractual work, which is exploitative in nature, is discontinued. The said letter was signed by Santosh Makwana, President of the union, Kuldeep Kagra, General Secretary, K. Narayan, Executive Officer, Rajendra Kumar Kagra, Treasurer, and Raju Laliram Kangra, President, Mira-Bhayander.

The entire letter may be read here:

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The post Safai Shramik Union raises demands for a law that safeguards rights of sanitation workers: Maharashtra appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In a long overdue decision, the Delhi social welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Monday, August 21,  announced a blanket ban on manual cleaning of sewers and warned that anyone found violating the rule will be booked under culpable homicide.He also said that a committee had been formed to find out the best possible ways or machines to clean the gutters, within 15 days. This directions came after Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Monday called a high-level meeting over deaths during sewer cleaning, which was attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi PWD minister Satyendar Jain and Gautam, along with officials of the departments concerned. The real question will be how strictly the Delhi government now implements the ban.

“It was decided in the meeting that no person will be allowed to go inside the gutter for sewer cleaning under any circumstances. There will be a complete ban on it. We will also put up hoardings in this regard,” Gautam told reporters.

“It is very unfortunate and shameful that people are losing their lives while cleaning sewers manually in the country’s capital,” the minister said, adding there were “standing instructions” that sewer drains should not be cleaned manually, but people were not adhering to the norms. “From noow on, if any contractor or the engineer is found getting the sewer lines or tanks cleaned manually, he will be booked under culpable homicide instead of negligence,” Gautam told the media. Earlier he said also he had issued instructions for putting up hoardings discouraging manual cleaning of sewers but that was not followed properly and another incident happened.

One more man had died while cleaning a sewer tank in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital of the Delhi Government on Sunday, while three others were injured. It is the 10th such death in Delhi in just over a month.

There is more. The minister also said that a committee comprising CEO-Delhi Jal Board, Chairman-New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Commissioner-South Delhi Municipal Corporation had been formed to find out the best practices adopted or the best machines being used in other countries across the world to clean sewer lines.

“They will submit their report in 15 days which will be tabled before the Lieutenant Governor in the next meeting,” he said. He added that on several occasions, it was found that people privately hired labourers to clean sewer tanks at their houses or at shopping malls and mishaps occurred. “I have asked the authorities concerned to make a proper list of such people who manually clean sewer. I have also ask the Jal Board to display a contact number on the hoardings, so that people can call on that number and ask for help if any sewer line or tank is to be cleaned instead of directly hiring the labourers,” Gautam said.

On August 12 , two brothers died of suffocation while cleaning a septic pit at a mall in Shahdara in east Delhi. On August 6, three persons died after inhaling toxic gases while cleaning a sewer in Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi. On July 15, four persons had died after inhaling poisonous gases as they entered a water harvesting tank in Ghitorni in south Delhi.

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