2 Incidents of Manual Scavenging within 2 Days in City
Mangaluru: Despite a ban on manual scavenging by the High Court, two incidents of manual scavenging have been noticed by activists within two days, where laborers were found working inside underground drainage chambers. Manual scavenging, the practice of employing human beings to clean manholes and sewers, is banned under the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prevention) Act, 1993. Instead of manual scavenging, the court had asked to make use of jet sucker machines to clean manholes. However, the practice seems to be continuing in in the city.
While in both these incidents where the activists are saying that it was illegal to practice manual scavenging, but MCC and other authorities are saying that the workers were not engaged in manual scavenging instead they were fixing the broken underground drainage chambers. Oh well- the truth will come out after proper investigation. In the recent incident, two people were made to work inside a damaged underground drainage chamber near Hampankatta in Mangaluru on Friday, 20 October. The duo were made to work in manhole as sewage flowed by. Though it’s not clear if the incident amounts to manual scavenging, the workers constructed walls of the chamber even as night soil was flowing in.
In the meantime, experts have said that inflow pipes to the damaged UGD chamber should have been diverted before workers entered it. This incident was reported by Youth leader Sunil Kumar Bajal where he saw workers inside the UGD chamber near Don Bosco Hall in Court Ward of Mangaluru City Corporation. As per Sunil, the road had been dug up at the spot a fortnight ago to facilitate the repair of the UGD chamber. In his statement to the media he stated that it’s inhuman to make workers enter the UGD chamber when night soil is flowing in and that people should wake up against such inhuman acts and raise their voice against it.
When the media had contacted MLA J R Lobo he stated that before the workers entered inside the UGD, they should have blocked the inflow and make the chamber dry, and that they’re not supposed to take up work when inflow pipes are intact. “It’s wrong and I don’t know why they did it. Everywhere it is banned. I’ll talk to the authorities concerned,” has assured Lobo.
In yet another incident which was highlighted in the media of an alleged incident of manual scavenging on Wednesday, where a person was made to enter a drain chamber and clear it by lifting the night soil using the plastic bucket at Bunder-Mangaluru.The social welfare department has taken note of the incident and officials will submit a report to the government.
In a video of this Bunder incident, which had gone viral, saw a person clearing a blocked drain chamber, which had collapsed, by lifting night soil. This happened despite manual scavenging being a violation of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993. The video was shot by DYFI leader Nithin Kuthar, who has filed a complaint with the MCC and police.
Nithin explaining to media had said that he came across the incident when he was walking in the area on Wednesday. “I saw a person entering the underground drainage chamber which had collapsed. He was collecting night soil using a plastic bucket and another person was lifting it from outside the pit. I recorded the incident and clicked photographs. I informed other DYFI leaders and we decided to file a complaint,” had said Nithin to the media.
Inputs from TOI
