Sanitation workers hold protest at Jantar Mantar

A protest, demanding government accountability for deaths related to cleaning sewage and septic tanks, was held at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday by the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA)

A protest, demanding government accountability for deaths related to cleaning sewage and septic tanks, was held at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday by the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA).

The protest was attended by sanitation workers, their families and activists who demanded strict implementation of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. (HT)

The protest was attended by sanitation workers, their families and activists who demanded strict implementation of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

42-year-old Satyawati, who joined the protest, said that the demonstration reopened painful old wounds. On March 20, 2009, her brother-in-law, Ashok Kumar, lost his life while cleaning a septic tank in north Delhi’s Narela.

“He worked with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) as a cleaning staff. His routine work entailed collecting garbage. He left home for work, but didn’t return. Later, we received a call stating that Ashok went to clean a septic tank and never returned,” said Satyawati, a resident of Dwarka.

Satyawati was among several family members of victims of septic tank-related deaths who joined the demonstration at the protest site, wearing headbands that read, “Stop killing us.”

60-year-old Paleram, originally from Haryana and a daily-wage worker-based in Rohini, said he began cleaning septic tanks around 25 years ago without any formal training and awareness about the work.

“The first job I found in the early 2000s was sweeping, for which I earned ₹50. Later, I started cleaning clogged septic tanks and earned around ₹70-100. Since it paid marginally better, I chose that work. I was told to enter the tank, carefully climb down using the slippery iron handles that served as a ladder, and clean it. That was the only training I received to date,” said Paleram, who recently sustained a leg fracture after slipping inside a septic tank.

“Some NGOs donate gloves, so I use them. But otherwise, I go inside tanks with minimal clothes on,” Paleram added.

64-year-old Deepti Sukumar, who has been associated with the movement for the past 35 years, said that when the government acknowledges that the nature of the work is hazardous and people continue to die while performing it, these are not merely deaths but instances of “murder under the state’s watch.”

A 33-year-old PhD scholar at Ambedkar University, specialising in caste and occupation, said that while the government has placed significant focus on cleanliness campaigns, the most vulnerable workers remain without adequate protection.

The demonstration was also joined by Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat and MP Manoj Kumar Jha. “These cleaners are invisible when they are alive and when they are dead, the government treats them like they existed,” said Karat.

Calling for attention to the link between caste and septic tank-related deaths, Jha said sanitation workers are employed in an inherently hazardous occupation with little protection, and the majority belong to marginalised communities.