The Crossbill News Desk
The Centre on Tuesday (March 17) told the Lok Sabha that hundreds of sanitation workers have died in hazardous conditions over the past several years, while maintaining that sanitation work is not linked to caste but is an occupation-based activity.
Stating that sanitation is an “occupation based” activity rather than caste-based, the government has informed the Lok Sabha that as many as 622 sanitation workers have died due to hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks across India since 2017, The Wire reported.
In a written reply to a question by Samajwadi Party MP Iqra Choudhary on Tuesday, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale, through the state-wise data presented in Lok Sabha, stated that full compensation was disbursed to 539 families, whereas 25 families have received part compensation.
However, 52 of the affected families never received any compensation, the data showed, and six cases were closed without any resolution. Of this, in Uttar Pradesh, the data showed that 13 families received no compensation and three cases were closed, the news website reported.
Uttar Pradesh, at 86, also recorded the highest number of fatalities, followed by Maharashtra at 82, Tamil Nadu at 77, Haryana at 76, Gujarat 73 and Delhi 62. There was no further information on how much a family received as compensation.
Athawale stated that a “fresh survey” under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, has found “no manual scavengers” in any district across the country.
However, 58,098 manual scavengers, including 32,473 in Uttar Pradesh, had been identified during the two surveys conducted in 2013 and 2018, he said.
The minister also said that sanitation is an “occupation based activity rather than caste based” and that measures have been taken to “enhance worker safety and ensure full rehabilitation of the sanitation workers”.
However, the data showed that a total of 842 complaints, including 130 complaints from Uttar Pradesh, were received from states and union territories regarding non-payment of wages, denial of safety equipment and caste-based discrimination.
On the coverage of the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) – a scheme aimed at the safety and dignity of sewer and septic tank workers (SSWs) – the government listed a number of measures taken to enhance worker safety and ensure full rehabilitation of the sanitation workers.
As of March 12, he stated, 89,248 sewer and septic tank workers and 2,34,425 waste pickers have been validated under NAMASTE scheme, including 12,424 SSWs and 35,641 waste pickers in Uttar Pradesh.
The erstwhile rehabilitation scheme for manual scavengers have been subsumed in the scheme, he said.
Stating that sanitation is an “occupation based” activity rather than caste-based, the government has informed the Lok Sabha that as many as 622 sanitation workers have died due to hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks across India since 2017, The Wire reported.
In a written reply to a question by Samajwadi Party MP Iqra Choudhary on Tuesday, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale, through the state-wise data presented in Lok Sabha, stated that full compensation was disbursed to 539 families, whereas 25 families have received part compensation.
However, 52 of the affected families never received any compensation, the data showed, and six cases were closed without any resolution. Of this, in Uttar Pradesh, the data showed that 13 families received no compensation and three cases were closed, the news website reported.
Uttar Pradesh, at 86, also recorded the highest number of fatalities, followed by Maharashtra at 82, Tamil Nadu at 77, Haryana at 76, Gujarat 73 and Delhi 62. There was no further information on how much a family received as compensation.
Athawale stated that a “fresh survey” under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, has found “no manual scavengers” in any district across the country.
However, 58,098 manual scavengers, including 32,473 in Uttar Pradesh, had been identified during the two surveys conducted in 2013 and 2018, he said.
The minister also said that sanitation is an “occupation based activity rather than caste based” and that measures have been taken to “enhance worker safety and ensure full rehabilitation of the sanitation workers”.
However, the data showed that a total of 842 complaints, including 130 complaints from Uttar Pradesh, were received from states and union territories regarding non-payment of wages, denial of safety equipment and caste-based discrimination.
On the coverage of the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) – a scheme aimed at the safety and dignity of sewer and septic tank workers (SSWs) – the government listed a number of measures taken to enhance worker safety and ensure full rehabilitation of the sanitation workers.
As of March 12, he stated, 89,248 sewer and septic tank workers and 2,34,425 waste pickers have been validated under NAMASTE scheme, including 12,424 SSWs and 35,641 waste pickers in Uttar Pradesh.
The erstwhile rehabilitation scheme for manual scavengers have been subsumed in the scheme, he said.
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