Latest news with #ProhibitionofEmployment
The Hindu
18 hours ago
- The Hindu
Govt. asks Commissioners of ULBs in Andhra Pradesh to ensure no person is engaged in manual scavenging
Following the directions issued by the Andhra Pradesh High Court as part of its judgment on April 23, the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Department has asked the Commissioners of all the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to ensure the strict implementation of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. The court had emphasised the need for timely payment of compensation and provision of full rehabilitation measures, including employment to the spouse, free education to children, and appropriate skill training to the kin of the deceased sewer workers. Following the directions, the department had on June 6, 2025, directed the Commissioners of all the ULBs in the State to see to it that no person was engaged in manual scavenging and that all cleaning operations were fully mechanised. 'Manual entry into sewers or septic tanks shall be strictly prohibited under all circumstances,' an official release said. The release added that in exceptional cases, where manual intervention was unavoidable, prior approval must be obtained from the Commissioner concerned and all prescribed safety equipment must be provided in accordance with the PEMSR Act, 2013. In the event of death in a sewer or septic tank, irrespective of whether the deceased was employed directly, indirectly, or through a contractor, an ex gratia of ₹30 lakh shall be mandatorily paid to the next of kin by the agency concerned, the release said. The department also asked the Commissioners to ensure that FIRs were promptly registered against any individual, agency, or contractor under relevant sections, and set up a dedicated helpline or mechanism for reporting violations and grievances related to manual scavenging. The Commissioners had been asked to create awareness among municipal staff, contractors, and the public on the legal prohibitions and penalties associated with manual scavenging, and the rights and rehabilitation measures available to the affected persons. The 2013 Act deals with the provisions of sanitary latrines, identification of manual scavengers and their rehabilitation, responsibilities of local authorities for elimination of insanitary latrines, implementation mechanism, procedure for trial, vigilance committees and miscellaneous.
New Indian Express
2 days ago
- New Indian Express
‘Inhumane' Cuttack municipal body forces workers to clean drain without safety gear
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.
The Hindu
21-05-2025
- The Hindu
Dyeing unit manager, supervisor arrested over death of three workers while cleaning tank in Tiruppur district
The Palladam police on Wednesday arrested two persons in connection with the recent deaths of three workers who inhaled toxic fumes while cleaning a dye waste tank without protective gear at a dyeing unit in Karaipudur in Tiruppur district. The arrested have been identified as Dhanapal (50), manager, and Aravind alias Jaya Aravind (47), a supervisor at the dyeing unit. The police said a case had earlier been registered against dyeing unit owner Naveen, who is at large, Dhanapal, Aravind and driver of a septic tank cleaner lorry Chinnasamy(36), who is under treatment. The incident occurred on Monday evening when Saravanan (30), Venugopal (31), and Harikrishnan (26), all from Sundamedu in Tiruppur, were engaged in cleaning the dye waste tank at the unit. The workers had not been provided with any safety equipment and they died after inhaling toxic fumes. Following the incident, Palladam police booked the accused under Sections of BNS 2023, and Section 9 of Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013 and 3(i) (j) 3(2) (VA) of SC/ST Amendment Act. Subsequently, a compensation of ₹30 lakh each was handed over to the families of the deceased by Tiruppur district revenue officer K. Karthikeyan. Meanwhile, Chinnasamy's wife Jothimani and daughter, along with representatives of several pro-Scheduled Caste organisations, submitted a petition to Tiruppur Superintendent of Police Yadav Girish. They sought Chinnasami's release from the case and requested that relief under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act be extended to him as well, stating that he had also been affected in the incident.
Scroll.in
12-05-2025
- Health
- Scroll.in
Swachh Bharat Mission: Caste and contracts in sanitation work
In October 2024, Swachh Bharat Mission, India's largest sanitation project to make the country 'open defecation-free', turned 10. The project constructed over a hundred million toilets and launched behavioural change initiatives encouraging toilet use and hygiene practices to promote 'cleanliness'. In response to the increasing load on sewerage systems due to rising urban density, the mission's urban component, SBM-U 2.0, focuses on improving sewage management and developing sewage treatment plants to create a sustainable and comprehensive urban sanitation system. However, these interventions neglect the issues of sewage workers, who constitute the backbone of urban sewage infrastructures. This is seen in the rising contractualisation in sanitation work –outsourcing to private entities or third-party agencies, often with exploitative conditions for workers – that draws upon and reproduces historical inequalities of caste and class in urban India. This piece draws upon the author's doctoral research on sewage work and infrastructure in Delhi, alongside fact-finding surveys on sewer and septic tank deaths in 2024, conducted as part of a team of researchers and activists organised by Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch, a social and advocacy forum for sewer workers' rights in the city. It addresses two forms of contractualisation: privately contracting sewage work to informal workers or casual labourers, and the rising contractualisation in civic bodies that compounds caste inequality for sewer workers mostly belonging to marginalised caste communities. Privately contracted sewage work Despite massive investments in Swachh Bharat Mission, over the last decade, at least 453 people have died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in India; other data suggests around 377 deaths between 2019 and 2023, and over 72 deaths between 2013 and 2024 in Delhi alone. In May 2024, two informal sanitation workers died after allegedly inhaling poisonous fumes while cleaning the private septic chamber of a house in a well-sewered colony in Noida. Two more lost their lives after being forced to enter a clogged sewer without protective equipment or supervision at a mall in northwest Delhi. They were contractually employed as housekeeping staff by a private company to which the mall had outsourced cleaning and maintenance operations. In October 2024, three labourers died while cleaning a sewer at a construction site in southwest Delhi, leading to investigations on the role of the private construction company and the site owner, a public sector undertaking company. In the last five months, there have been at least three more incidents of sewer and septic tank deaths in Delhi. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, prohibits 'hazardous cleaning' of sewers, septic tanks or manual cleaning without mandated protective gear, cleaning devices and safety precautions. These cases persist despite the law, pointing to the absence of municipal regulation and accountability in privately contracted sewage work and exploitative work arrangements that may force workers to undertake hazardous cleaning without requisite training, supervision and protective gear. They also reveal a culture of negligence as housing colonies, private companies and state corporations summon untrained informal workers to clean sewers or septic tanks without accounting for safety risks. As gathered from fact-finding surveys, at times, there is an institutional reluctance in criminalising these cases under the Act; they are often seen as 'accidental'. Many of these workers were either poor migrant or informal workers, who mostly belonged to marginalised caste or class communities. Many worked as daily-wage labourers, guards or housekeeping staff, and had to take up a range of sewage work without prior experience due to desperate economic circumstances or fear of losing their jobs. Privately contracted sewage work, thus, draws upon pre-existing social and economic inequalities and vulnerabilities. It also reproduces the cycle of inequality for the workers' families that are forced to deal with the loss of their loved one, also an earning member, and settle for less than the mandated compensation offered stealthily by contractors, due to lack of resources to fight a legal battle. To counteract this exploitation and lack of regulation, few ground activists suggested during field discussions that sewage work be undertaken by the civic body as civic body workers and their supervisors are more experienced and the civic body can be held accountable for any lapses or malpractices. Contractualisation in civic bodies Sewer workers employed with civic bodies, such as the Delhi Jal Board – the nodal state agency responsible for water and sewerage in the city – emphasise this work is not only dangerous but also demands a certain technique. Skills are accrued through knowledge passed down from senior to junior workers, at times their only safeguard against the risks of sewer work, especially in earlier years when workers had to enter deep sewers. The impact of the 2013 Act started emerging a few years after its implementation when new machines for sewer cleaning, though still inadequate, were introduced. The machines, alongside the pressure on civic bodies to ensure compliance with the law, significantly reduced sewer deaths in the civic body. But just as one critical fight for workers' safety and dignity was being fought, there emerged a new challenge: of contractualisation. Today, a large number of sewer workers are employed on a contractual basis with civic bodies. In recent years, workers have protested this due to issues such as unfair salary cuts by the contractor, no identity cards and lack of access to social security provisions such as health insurance. Further, once a contract ends, there is a constant fear of losing their source of livelihood. The civic body and contractors pass the buck, revealing accountability gaps in the system. The contractual system, key to the social infrastructure of urban sanitation today, sustains labour inequalities and creates precarity. Further, it exacerbates and compounds the inequality of caste. Historically, sanitation work in India, seen as 'polluting work', has been relegated to marginalised caste communities, particularly the Valmikis and other Dalit sub-castes. Even today, most sewer workers belong to these communities, showing how caste ideologies and practices continue to shape occupational structures. Caste also operates through a deep-seated public apathy towards what goes down the drain with the expectation that someone will do the 'dirty work' of unclogging blocked sewer lines. While 'behavioural change' is Swachh Bharat Mission's key focus area, it rarely targets the casteist foundations of civil society. Permanent employment in the civic body cannot alone dismantle these structures of caste inequality. However, it offered some safety net: job security, fixed salary and allowances, retirement benefits and health insurance. Contractualisation not only deepens the workers' economic vulnerability but also reinforces the social marginalisation rooted in caste. The Swachh Bharat Mission movement has seldom grappled with questions of work, labour, contract and caste. A focus on them not only reveals how relations of caste and contract sustain urban infrastructures but also the gaps in sanitation programmes and the need for interventions that guarantee safety, security and dignity to the sanitation workforce. Aarushie Sharma is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at York University, Toronto. This research has been supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada, and York University's Dissertation Fieldwork Fellowship.
The Hindu
09-05-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Provide PPE kits to sanitation workers before monsoon: Delhi Social Welfare Minister
Delhi Social Welfare Minister Ravinder Indraj Singh on Friday chaired a meeting to review the implementation of the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) scheme and the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. The Minister directed officials to ensure that a survey of manual scavengers in the Capital be concluded before the onset of monsoon. He also ordered that all sewer and septic tank workers be provided with personal protective equipment kits and safety devices before the monsoon. Mr. Singh directed that all sanitation workers be covered under the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme.
