The government announced two major decisions on November 19, 2020 for ending the hazardous practice of manual cleaning of septic tanks and sewer lines and making the mechanised cleaning must.
While the Ministry of Social Justice will be amending the law for making machine cleaning mandatory, a ‘Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge’ was launched by the Ministry of Urban Affairs for ensuring that no person needs to enter septic or sewer tanks.
Even though, several Supreme Court judgements and existing regulations prohibit manual cleaning of sewer lines and septic tanks without taking strict precautions, nearly 800 cleaners have died in the last 5 years.
Measures to eliminate manual scavenging by August 2021 |
| • Amending the manual scavenging act for making mechanised cleaning of septic and sewer tanks mandatory. • Setting up a national 24x7 Helpline number to report the violations. • To replace the word manhole with machine hole in an official usage for bringing paradigm shift in which this entire issue is approached. |
Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge: Key Details
• The challenge has been launched by the Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri among 243 major cities on the World Toilet Day.
• The state capitals, urban local bodies and smart cities will be eligible to participate.
• The on-ground assessment of the participating cities will be held in May 2021 by an independent agency. The results will be declared on August 15, 2021.
• The 243 cities that are eligible to participate will be awarded into three sub-categories which will be based on population: up to 3 lakh, 3 to 10 lakh and above 10 lakh.
• The total prize money under the challenge will be of Rs. 52 crores which will be given to winning cities across all the categories.
• State governments took a pledge of mechanising all septic and sewer tanks cleaning operations by April 31, 2021. If any human needs to enter sewer line in case of emergency, oxygen tank, proper gear, etc. must be provided.
MD, NSKFDC giving an overview of loans and financing options for purchasing mechanized equipment's, rehabilitation of Safaimitras at Webinar (Launch of Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge: From Manhole to Machine hole Transformation) organized by MoHUA. pic.twitter.com/bXgO76ZCMG
— Ministry of SJ&E (@MSJEGOI) November 20, 2020
Making mechanised cleaning mandatory:
R Subramanyam, Social Justice and Empowerment Secretary stated that the fundamental change in the present Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation act will be that the mechanised cleaning will be made mandatory. He added that the it should not be just a practice but it must be the only practice.
While talking about the funds, the minister informed that the funds will be provided directly to the sanitation workers and not to the municipalities or contractors to purchase the machinery. The Ministry wants workers to own these machines so that these can be used by the municipalities whenever it is required.
Manual Scavenging in India:
Manual scavenging is a term which is used for manually disposing of, cleaning, carrying or otherwise handling human excreta in an open drain or pit. For the work which caste based and regarded as dehumanizing, manual scavengers usually use hand tools such as brooms, buckets and shovels.
The sanitation workers who are called manual scavengers have to move excreta with the use of tin plates and brooms, into baskets which they then carry to the disposal locations which are often several kilometers away. The workers rarely have any personal protective equipment.
In 1993, the employment of manual scavengers for emptying a certain type of dry toilet that required manual daily emptying was prohibited in India. The law was then extended and clarified in 2013 for including ditches, insanitary latrines and pits.
In India, manual Scavenging in 2014 was found to be most prevalent in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
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